What are you supposed to do if you happen to be an automaker and you’ve created a monster. Unlike Frankenstein’s Monster we want you to unleash any monster of power, performance or engineering on the world. In order to celebrate the accomplishments of creating something awesome that can be considered a monstrosity you have to fund a variety of ways to show it off so that more of the world ca enjoys your new creation. This gives you the power to create whatever you want and find the right places for your new item that will certainly capture our attention.
The power currently belongs to FCA. Yes, there are engines that are more powerful than the Hellcat, but this engine is one to behold and the way FCA uses it, in an affordable manner allows those of us on a lower than six figure per vehicle budget to be able to thumb our collective noses at the exotic car shoppers of the world. Let them have their Ferraris, let them have their Bugattis, even give them the Lamborghinis, we get to have the Hellcat and now that we know more about it FCA has found another way to show it off to us.
So far we’ve had the Dodge Challenger that can come with a Hellcat engine as the muscle car throwback to the 1970s that we want to love. This is a car that’s larger than the original but it comes in with all the features and fun of a modern vehicle. You won’t find anyone who doesn’t love the look and feel of the Hellcat Charger, just listening to it growl is an auditory delight. This is the home and the rightful place for this massively powerful engine.
The second location for the Hellcat is the Charger. Most of us still shudder a bit when we see a Charger, with thoughts that it may be a police officer about to write us a ticket. In reality the Hellcat Charger is a sedan that allows a family to love this powerful beast. This gives us a car that can take care of the grocery shopping on Tuesday and be ready for the track on Saturday. Every member of the family can appreciate the awesome power of the Hellcat Charger and have lots of fun on the street or on the track as they see their car at speeding by with a parent behind the wheel.
Now FCA has put the Hellcat engine in the Jeep Grand Cherokee to create the Trackhawk. We’ve known, or at least suspected for some time that this SUV was coming, but now we have validation. This new version of one of our favorite SUVs will have the great engine and an all new front fascia. There is a new slit in the chin spoiler for better airflow and three new intakes in the upper bumper to keep the engine performing at its best.
What we expect from this new SUV is the same massive 6.2-liter supercharged V8 engine with 707 horsepower and 650 lb.-ft. of torque that’s found in the Charger and Challenger with the same engine under the hood. This is an increase of 130 horsepower and 180 lb.-ft. of torque over the SRT model of the Grand Cherokee to give us an SUV that has a ton of grunt and speed. How this Hellcat will be used in the Trackhawk form is yet to be seen, but the expectation is a speed from zero to sixty mph that comes in at a time that’s less than four seconds.
To add a bit of style to this vehicle FCA put new LED strips on the inside of the new intakes. This will add a dramatic effect to the SUV but most of the drama will come from the awesome power the Trackhawk has to show off for us. With this new model ready for 2017 we will have a trio of Hellcat powered vehicles to give us plenty of excitement. The only real question is to figure out where else FCA might choose to put this big and powerful beast of an engine. Is this the SUV for you, it certainly will be if you’ve been dreaming and drooling over it for the past several months. See the new Trackhawk for yourself in this video.
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