Hennessey Performance Engineering is back again shortly after showing us the world's fastest Christmas tree with a Dodge Challenger Hellcat. This time, there aren't any holiday decorations onboard for a top-speed run. It's just pavement and a bone-stock Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk.
The premise is straightforward: how fast will the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk go before HPE does predictable performance enhancements? The answer is a firm 175 mph. That's 5 mph off Jeep's claimed top speed of 180 mph.
We noted a few things in the video. Foremost, this Trackhawk is nowhere near past the engine break-in period with just 90 miles on the odometer. Second, the run is done on HPE's proving grounds over a stretch of about 2-2.5 miles. Third, it pulls hard—really hard—until about 140 mph. The last 35 mph come on much slower, but this Jeep still hustles.
The launch is probably most incredible as the Jeep's all-wheel-drive system rockets the SUV to 60 mph in about 3.5 seconds. And the momentum that 707 horsepower and 645 pound-feet of torque provides is nothing to scoff at, either. But, this is Hennessey, and those numbers will improve.
HPE announced last September that it has plans for a 1,012-hp package that will also feature 969 lb-ft of torque and launch the Trackhawk from 0-60 mph in just 2.8 seconds. We don't know how the vehicle will handle an extra 305 hp and 319 lb-ft of torque—Jeep already modified the full-time active transfer case to handle 707 ponies—but that's ultimately something for HPE to tune and perfect.
