One of Jeep’s Grandest Performance Heroes Could Be Returning from the Dead

With the V8 supposedly returning for the current Jeep Grand Cherokee, rumors are now floating about a potential Trackhawk revival. The update comes after an initial report about the HEMI’s revival for the Grand Cherokee.

Now, our friends at The Drive recently got wind of another detail. In addition to the possibility of the V8 coming back to Jeep’s most popular-selling SUV, this could also include include the raucously extreme SRT Trackhawk.

Jeep last made a Trackhawk model based on the previous ‘WK2’ generation. On top of being a wickedly fast SUV, its biggest party piece was its utilization of the same supercharged 6.2-liter V8 found in the Dodge Challenger Hellcat.

It ended production in 2021 to make way for the current Grand Cherokee. Since then, there hasn’t been any indication of a successor in sight. Until now.

Re-Hellcat-ifying the Grand Cherokee

Jeep

When Jeep discontinued the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, it wasn’t just because of the end of its production run. It was also because Stellantis was making a major shift in its strategy towards electrification.

The Auburn Hills automaker was also slowly transitioning to adopting widespread use of its then-new Hurricane inline-six. The plan was to have the new turbo-six replace the HEMI in most of its standard applications.

Jeep

That also meant the HEMI was then on its slow march to death, under then Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares’ supposed direction.

The plan since then was to make better use of Mopar’s latest twin-turbocharged Hurricane inline-six. But since Stellantis appointed a new CEO, the company made a quick about face to keep the HEMI V8 around after significant backlash.

With the Mopar division of Stellantis getting HEMI V8 production and availability back on track, not only is the Grand Cherokee the next potential target. This could very easily make a high-performance Trackhawk version possible.

Jeep

“I mean, absolutely everything is on the table,” Lopez told The Drive. “There are a lot of things being developed, but Stellantis announced a $13 billion investment in the future of the company. With that, I can tell you there’s a lot of product actions coming that, of course, we cannot announce at this point.”

Jeep

The previous Grand Cherokee Trackhawk used the same 6.2-liter supercharged HEMI as the Dodge Charger and Challenger Hellcat. That, of course, made it a monster of a machine with 707 horsepower and 645 pound-feet of torque.

While the standard Grand Cherokee had an optional run-of-the-mill 5.7-liter HEMI, the Trackhawk was two steps above. In between was the standard Grand Cherokee SRT8 with a naturally-aspirated 6.4-liter HEMI, good for 470 hp and 470 lb-ft.

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