Jeep will be adding a 707-hp Hellcat version of the Grand Cherokee it will call Trackhawk.

Things are going to hell at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Which is, apparently, a good thing considering the huge demand for the maker’s two Hellcat muscle cars, 707-horsepower versions of the Dodge Charger sedan and Challenger coupe.

They’ll soon be joined by another Hellcat-powered model. Several FCA insiders have confirmed that the Jeep brand is getting ready to launch a 707-horesepower SUV that will be known as the Grand Cherokee SRT Trackhawk.

Fiat Chrysler officials this week have been briefing dealers about plans to expand the Hellcat line during their annual retail get-together in Las Vegas. They’re also advising dealers that they’ve boosted production capacity for the Hellcat engine. Demand has been so strong that orders for the 2015 models had to be cut off well before the end of the model-year.

Like the Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger Hellcat models, the Trackhawk will be powered by a 707-horsepower supercharged V-8. That’s the most powerful engine ever offered in a stock, factory-built U.S. muscle car. That allows the two Dodge models to deliver 0 to 60 times that can rival even some of the most exotic European supercars.

(To Hell and back, Hell, Mich, that is, in a Dodge Charger Hellcat. Click Here for the review.)

The Charger shares its supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 with this slightly lighter, shorter Challenger Hellcat.

Under the hood of the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT Trackhawk, meanwhile, the Hellcat engine is expected to deliver launch times in the range of 3.5 seconds, according to insiders. That would make the SUV even faster than such vaunted rivals as the BMW X5 M.

The Jeep version of the Hellcat won’t be on the road until next summer. The SUV brand needs time to finish tuning up the new model. And FCA can use the time to get its manufacturing house in order.

During just the first five days after it went on sale in September in 2014, Dodge already had more than 4,500 orders in hand the first version, the Dodge Challenger Hellcat. The pace only accelerated when the more practical Dodge Charger Hellcat was added soon afterwards. That forced Dodge to cut off orders in March for the rest of the 2015 model-year.

Late last month, the automaker announced it would double production of the big Hellcat engine to try to keep up with demand, brand President Tim Kuniskis declaring, “We could not have asked for a more enthusiastic response to the Charger and Challenger SRT Hellcats – it was absolutely unprecedented, but then again, these 707-horsepower muscle cars are unprecedented.”

(Dodge has plans to double Hellcat production. Click Here for more.)

Dodge has also taken steps to keep dealers from stockpiling Hellcat models to ensure the muscle cars are shipped from factory to showrooms that actually have orders in hand. The industry norm is that a new car will sit on the lot an average 60 days or more before being delivered to a customer. At many dealerships that’s down to single digits.

The success of the Hellcat comes at a time when interest in performance cars is at its strongest level in decades. A surge in demand fueled by relatively cheap gasoline. But it also helps that the latest powertrain technology can deliver both power and fuel economy. Even at 707 horsepower, the EPA rates the Dodge Challenger Hellcat at 22 mpg on the highway. That’s two to three times what a muscle car owner might have been able to achieve in the 1960s and ‘70s.

The decision to add a Hellcat version of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, meanwhile, is of no surprise. SUVs and crossover-utility vehicles are expected to outsell sedans in the U.S. market this year, and demand for high-powered versions has been growing. The Trackhawk will go up against an expanding line-up of performance-oriented SUV competitors such as the BMW X5 M.

(Once again, muscle cars rule the road. Click Here for the story.)

(Dodge bringing back the legendary Barracuda. It’s one of many old nameplates coming back. Click Here for more.)

 

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