[Jeep TrackHawk News]

The big news may of been that the Grand Cherokee will likely inherent the Hellcat engine eventually, but Jeep never said it would be the first...

Lets start at FIAT first, currently FIAT only offers one Abarth model, the 500. While another is expected in the form of the 124 Spider, another could join us sooner rather then later. The 500X Abarth.

“Besides the 124 and 500, we are thinking about an all-new addition to the line-up,” Fiat Chrysler Group chief operating officer Alfredo Altavilla quipped to Auto Express. “The 500X is one of the options being considered.”

Rumor has it that FIAT is considering using the high strung 1.75L Turbo 4, developed first for the Alfa Romeo 4C and also expected in the Abarth 124. Visually expect the hopped up norm, lowered ride height, aggressive bumpers, spoiler, larger wheels as well as Abarth specific interior and instrumentation.

The 500X would find itself in a relatively sparse section of the segment, competing with the Mini Countryman JCW and Nissan's NISMO Juke.

However what could be interesting regards the Renegade. Jeep has let it be known they will be developing a line of Trackhawk branded vehicles, replacing the SRT badging. Could we potentially see a Renegade featuring the little Alfa's turbo 4, dropped, wider, whatever?

Maybe, pretty please with a cherry on top...

 

[JeepersCreepers]

I would hope that they don't drop the Renegade. One of the great things about Jeep is their ground clearance.

 

[Hawkman]

I find it really weird when SUVs are dropped to the point that they have minimal ground clearance. Ideally, I want to still be able to do off-road stuff even if i've gone for a Jeep that has performance upgrades.

 

[JeepersCreepers]

SUVs are higher off the ground as default so I'm not quite sure why someone would buy one and then lower it. The only advantage I can see is that it's more sable in turns but that's it.

 

[TIME]

I find it really weird when SUVs are dropped to the point that they have minimal ground clearance. Ideally, I want to still be able to do off-road stuff even if i've gone for a Jeep that has performance upgrades.

if you were buying an SUV for off road prowess then you wouldn't be in the market for something branded TRACK hawk now would you???

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[JeepersCreepers]

if you were buying an SUV for off road prowess then you wouldn't be in the market for something branded TRACK hawk now would you???

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You do make a good point. I just assumed the track was referring to off road track driving. Looking back my thought process didn't make much sense.

 

[BlackHawk]

if you were buying an SUV for off road prowess then you wouldn't be in the market for something branded TRACK hawk now would you???

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Exactly.

Plus what good would a vehicle be that does it all when its line up allows for variation, sure better than one vehicle that's a mash up of everything.

 

[Hawkman]

It's less about actually going off-road and more about the idea of an SUV. I think it looks weird when an SUV is dropped so low. SUVs shouldn't be dropped too low in my opinion. It just looks weird and feels wrong.

To be fair, I don't even really like dropped cars that aren't SUVs too.

 

[BlackHawk]

It's not weird when it's built for a purpose that warrants it being that low and that's what it comes down to, if it serves its purpose well.
How weird would it be of a Trailhawk was sitting just as low.

 

[Hawkman]

It seems to me that they would introduce the Trailhawk monicker at the higher end of the lineup. It just doesn't make sense to me to do it with the Renegade first. I think you want to show the best of what you can do. Create a halo vehicle. And then move the tech down the lineup to more accessible vehicles.

 

[BlackHawk]

That not always makes sense, it depends on a lot of things and observing all of what Jeep had going on at the time the Renegade just had to get a Trailhawk edition...and it was no joke. I think as long as the execution is good, those high expectations would still be there, leaving folks wondering what more to expect from the brand.

 

[Jeepers]

Even if it isn't the Grand Cherokee that they do first, I would expect it to be the Cherokee before the Renegade. Just seems strange to debut the performance brand on the budget model.

 

[JeepersCreepers]

It hasn't been confirmed yet as it's still a rumor so it could go either way.

 

[BlackHawk]

One thing to consider is the rate which this SUV segment is growing and whatever appropriate timing they've identified for launching a specific product, so it could turn out that a GC TrackHawk might make more sense to launch now than the Cherokee, but with the Cherokee following it.

 

[Jeepers]

Why would the timing matter for which vehicle they choose to release? I don't think that full size SUVs are more popular in the winter while CUVs are more popular in the summer, for example.

 

[BlackHawk]

Because timing of launching a product in a market that's primed for it is key. It's sort of why compacts that released over 10 years ago didn't do so well but these days there's a rapidly growing demand.