Jeep Grand Cherokee Demon spied in America

No one who has driven a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk has climbed out of the hot seat and thought ‘Gee, this thing really needs more power!’.

With a supercharged 6.2-litre Hemi V8 lifted from the Dodge Charger and Challenger Hellcat twins sending 522kW and 868Nm to all four wheels, the Trackhawk is a masterclass in American excess.

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Thing is, parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles could be cooking up something even more extreme.

Spy shots taken near one of FCA’s testing facilities hint at a Grand Cherokee with the frankly ridiculous engine from the Dodge Demon slotted behind its snout.

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The Dodge Demon has the same size 6.2-litre V8 block as the Trackhawk/Hellcat models, but with a larger supercharger ensuring it makes 603kW and 972Nm on ‘regular’ premium fuel, with power levels stepping up to 626kW and 1040Nm with 100RON octane juice.

The tip-off that this is a bigger, badder Grand Cherokee is the bonnet. While the ‘regular’ Trackhawk has some subtle bonnet cut-outs, the spy shots show a Jeep with a much larger bonnet bulge and air scoop, mimicking that of the Demon.

Even if the more powerful 626kW tune isn’t available for the Grand Cherokee Demon, 606kW and 972Nm is a hell of a lot of power to push through an all-wheel-drive transmission.

With ‘just’ 522kW, the Trackhawk is capable of cracking 100km/h in 3.7 seconds when independently performance tested by our sister mag, Motor.

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The Challenger Demon is not available from the factory in Australia, however private companies are importing and converting the strip weapon for a princely sum of approximately $300,000.

If the harder Grand Cherokee is built, Australian customers would surely be lining up around the block to get their hands on it.

Currently, the next most powerful purely combustion-powered SUV after the Trackhawk is the Lamborghini Urus, with 478W from a VW-family twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8. The hybrid Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid has 500kW by combining the same engine of the Urus, with a battery and electric motor.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee is getting long in the tooth, and a replacement has been on the cards for some time. A 626kW farewell would be fitting for the V8 SUV icon.