Jeep CEO Steve Zanlunghi has confirmed today the 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk will be available for sale in Australia before the end of this year.
AT THE END OF Jeep Australia’s launch of the 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT and Trailhawk today, Jeep CEO Steve Zanlunghi ended the day with the news Jeep Australia will be bringing in the high-powered Jeep Trackhawk. It will go on-sale Down Under before the end of this year.
“I can now confirm that the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk will be available for sale in Australia”, Zanlunghi said.
“It will be available to buy this year,” he told Practical Motoring, “on sale at Christmas is a safe bet,” he added.
“Australia is the second biggest market for our 344kW Grand Cherokee SRT, behind the USA – so we’re confident Australians will absolutely love the Trackhawk which has even more of what makes the SRT so popular – a lot more!”
Pricing and other spec isn’t available yet, however: “but I don’t have any information on pricing and can’t confirm that yet” Zanlunghi said.
While nothing is confirmed, Australia can likely expect our Trackhawk variant to have similar performance and specification as the US market, with Zanlunghi confirming to us its power output. It will come with “527kW and 870Nm, but that’s all I can say. It’s too early. There’ll be more details on it later,” Zanlunghi said.
The Trackhawk will be the quickest Grand Cherokee yet, and Jeep (US) claims it is capable of propelling 0-100km/h in just 3.5sec, entering supercar territory and near Dodge Charger Hellcat acceleration. It is also claimed to complete the quarter mile in just 11.6sec.
The Trackhawk gets the same eight-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission as other Grand Cherokees and runs an on-demand all-wheel drive system, but has copped a bunch of strengthening tweaks to ensure the driveline doesn’t tear itself apart with all that power and torque being twisted through it. It gets a stronger driveshaft which connects to a new and stronger rear axle, the Trackhawk, with a bunch of other stronger nuts and bolts in between.
The Trackhawk offers a tuned version of the standard Selec-Track system and is tuned for five different modes the driver can choose from, including Auto, Sport, Track and Tow. Selecting one of these modes will adjust things like torque split, transmission shift pattern, suspension and the electric-assist power steering. The driver is also able to build their own ‘individual’ setting.
- Auto: Automatically adapts to any condition; uses a 40:60 front/rear torque split;
- Sport: Transmission shift times are reduced by 50% versus Auto Mode; stability control, four-wheel-drive and steering systems are set for typical enthusiast driving style: paddle shifters are enabled and suspension is tightened up without increasing impact harshness to deliver increased vehicle performance capability over Auto Mode; uses 35:65 torque split;
- Track: Transmission shift times are reduced 68% versus Auto Mode to 160ms; stability control, four-wheel-drive and steering systems are set for ultimate track performance; paddle shifters are enabled and suspension is set to full firm to deliver maximum vehicle performance capability on smooth, dry surfaces; uses 30:70 torque split;
- Tow: Alters torque delivery off the line for greater smoothness and adjusts suspension to combat pitch and yaw to deliver maximum towing performance: uses 60:40 torque split (the maximum braked towing capacity is 3272kg); and
- Snow: Maximises traction to deliver optimised performance on snow and ice with reduced engine horsepower; uses 50:50 torque split.
The Trackhawk sits 25mm lower than non-SRT Grand Cherokees and stand out from the SRT pack with body-coloured flared wheel arches, and dual heat extractors in the bonnet. There are no fog lights on Trackhawk to “optimise airflow to cooling modules and air induction without compromising the vehicle’s balance”. Standard Trackhawk wheels are 20×10-inch and wrapped in 295/45ZR20 Scorpion Verde All-Season rubber, while a lightweight wheel, saving 5.5kg, is also available; this wheel is wrapped in Pirelli P Zero three-season rubber.
Climb inside and there’s a 7-inch driver information display with a tachometer in the middle and a speedo to the left. The dashboard is dominated by the 8.4-inch touchscreen which offers Performance Pages, allowing the driver to scroll through lap timers, gauges and a new engine dynamometer screen that displays instantaneous horsepower, torque and the gear; there’s a snapshot function that allows the driver to take a screen grab of this… The Trackhawk offers Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity and voice control.
I guess if you tow heavy trailer a lot this makes some kind of sense. In the NT.
So being a Jeep, does this mean you can self recover should you find yourself in the sandtrap??