Spies in Michigan have spotted what appears to be a Hellcat-powered Dodge Durango hiding beneath half a sheet.
At a casual glance, this Durango tester could be mistaken for a mild aesthetic overhaul of Dodge’s three-row SUV, but a closer look reveals something quite telling.
We’re referring to the front bumper, where there’s a very distinct air intake formed in just below the main grille. We’ve seen that before on the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk mule which has also been spotted testing. At this point, we’re pretty confident in calling it a telltale.
We know for certain that the Jeep Grand Cherokee variant will arrive as a 2018 model. Jeep CEO Mike Manley has confirmed as much.
Given the state of this Durango tester, we’d wager that it won’t be here any sooner, and could perhaps be staggered by a model year just to accommodate production of the supercharged, 6.2-liter engine–a choke point that hampered Charger and Challenger Hellcat deliveries for most of 2015.
As is the case with the forthcoming Grand Cherokee variant, the Durango’s ultimate capabilities will depend largely on whether FCA has developed an all-wheel drive system that is capable of handling both the torque and revs required to put all 707 (or fewer, depending on the final tune) ponies to ground.
Stay tuned for the latest.
Photos by Chris Doane.
Leave a Reply