Jeep's insane Grand Cherokee Trackhawk will stay at the top of the SUV food chain for the foreseeable future, with Jeep officials pouring cold water on the idea of an even more extreme version.

The Trackhawk uses the Dodge Hellcat 6.2-litre supercharged V8 to produce 522kW and 868Nm to offer a large SUV that can blast to 100km in just 3.7 seconds, making it far and away the most powerful production SUV on sale in the world today - and the third most-powerful car sold to be sold in Australia.

There is, however, a more extreme version of the same engine - known as the Demon - that could theoretically drop between the Grand Cherokee’s front guards.

In basic trim, the Demon motor - which is fitted to the Challenger coupe in the USA - makes more than 600kW and 1000Nm of torque, and is capable of making more out of the box with the use of 100 RON racing fuel. It uses a larger supercharger that makes more boost, along with a higher rev limit.

“Isn’t 700 horsepower enough?” Jeep’s senior manager of powertrain engineering Jamie Standing asked Drive rhetorically, before saying of the Demon conversion; “It isn’t going to happen.”

The big V8 in the Trackhawk has already been detuned in several areas for improved driveability, and Mr Standing reiterated that one of the key aims for the Trackhawk was day-to-day usability rather than only punching out fast times at the dragstrip.

“We wanted to meet the anticipated refinement needs of our customers, and the existing applications of this [Hellcat] engine are in different applications,” he said.

A milder cam, a resonator to reduce supercharger whine and an additional cooling circuit have been added to the Trackhawk, along with a heavily revised driveline.

Mr Standing said that the modifications – including a strengthened ZF eight-speed gearbox, a new rear LSD/transfer case combo and strengthened driveshafts – were designed specifically for the Trackhawk.

“At the moment, there are no plans to use that stuff anywhere else,” he said.

He also said that Trackhawk supply would not be constrained by engine availability.

"We'd ideally like to supply a couple less than we need. We can always build another couple more engines,” he said.

The Trackhawk will launch in Australia in December, and customer orders for a Launch Edition version have already opened.

Based on the single Trackhawk variant, the Launch Edition will offer no mechanical upgrades over the stock car, but instead is expected to feature a higher level of interior trim, a better multimedia/stereo combo, additional badging and Pirelli P-Zero 295/45 ZR20 tyres on black rims.

Pricing for the Trackhawk is yet to be revealed, but the base car is anticipated to cost $140,000, while the Launch Edition – limited to 62 vehicles in homage to the car’s 6.2-litre engine – is expected to cost $160,000 before on-road costs.

Stay tuned for our first drive impressions of the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk later this week.

- For more information visit our Jeep showroom