HEMI, Steady, Go For Jeep

Off-road mud-plugging is about to meet on-road performance - as the first-ever Jeep to be given the SRT treatment is on the way.

Auto Express Car Reviews

17th March 2005

SRT, which stands for Street and Racing Technology, is Chrysler's in-house tuning arm and until now, its
engineers have worked only on Dodge and Chrysler-badged cars. But insiders told us a flagship performance Grand Cherokee is in development.

It will be powered by the 6.1-litre HEMI engine found in the Chrysler 300C SRT-8, which was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month. Also heading to this side of the Atlantic is the Jeep Commander - an even bigger SUV than the Grand Cherokee. Both are to set be unveiled at next week's New York exhibition, before appearing in British dealerships in right-hand-drive form.

Meanwhile, the Dodge Caliber, also displayed at Geneva, will go on sale in June next year - but it might have a different title. A company spokesman told us: "Caliber is just a concept name at the moment, and the production car will get a global badge which may or may not be Caliber."

He said there were some issues regarding the spelling of the name - as it's written 'calibre' in the English dictionary. But he added: "We don't care. We can sell it, whatever it's called."