Rumor Has It: Dodge Durango will get the Hellcat Treatment

One of the worst-kept secrets in the car biz today is that the official announcement of an SRT-tuned Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk powered by the gloriously-overkill 6.2L supercharged version of the third-gen Chrysler Hemi V8 – a.k.a. Hellcat – is imminent. What may not be as widely known, however, is that recent spy photos suggest SRT is also hard at work on a hopped-up version of the Grand Cherokee’s longer, more commodious platform-mate, the Dodge Durango, utilizing the current GCSRT’s 475 horsepower 6.4L naturally-aspirated Hemi. And while that’s fine and dandy (especially if it ends up looking like the Durango Shaker Concept seen here), what’s stopping the evil geniuses in Auburn Hills from creating the most muscular three-row crossover or SUV in history by dropping the satanic feline motor into the Durango? What, indeed…

Rumor has it that about a year after the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk and Durango SRT arrive, a Durango Hellcat could hit showrooms as a sort of going away present for the current generation Durango, so figure on a debut sometime in calendar year 2018 if it happens. Does the world need a seven-passenger SUV with 700-ish horsepower? Obviously not. Are we hoping it hits showrooms anyway? You’re damn right we are! The current BMW X5 M and Mercedes-AMG GLS63 are the supercars of the family SUV realm, so a Durango Hellcat with about 150 more horsepower (and 97% more ‘MURICA) than either of them would truly be a hypercar for PTA moms and soccer dads. Please, Mr. Marchionne, give this batpoop people-mover the green light if you haven’t already.