While some senior executives may be happy sitting in an office, SRT CEO and senior vice president of design at Chrysler Group, Ralph Gilles, prefers to be in the driver’s seat, literally.
Seen in recently released footage behind the wheel of the 351kW/630Nm 6.4-litre HEMI V8-powered 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, Gilles hustles the 2336kg SUV around the new Circuit of the America’s in Austin, Texas.
Since the pre-facelifted Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 launched in Australia in October last year, a total of 331 units had been sold to the end of December, 2012 – 205 regular SRT8 models and 126 special edition Alpine and Vapor editions.
Fiat Chrysler Group corporate affairs boss, Karla Leach, told CarAdvice that they are hoping to move at least 800-1000 Jeep SRT8s in 2013.
“We sold 331 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8s in just three months in 2012, but we’re confident of selling between 800-1000 units across 2013.
“However, we’ll be pushing for even more production, such is our confidence with the Jeep SRT8 in this market.”
The 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 isn’t expected to arrive down under until mid-year, along with the rest of the refreshed Jeep Cherokee range, sporting a new eight-speed automatic transmission that replaces the outgoing five-speed unit.
