After scrapping its 4xe models, there’s been little word on a new Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk until now.
As Stellantis recalibrates how it’s going to approach the electrification question, the 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee has been in a bit of an awkward position. See, the off-road Trailhawk version was going to exclusively be a plug-in hybrid ‘4xe’ model, until Jeep decided to can all its existing PHEV offerings. That took the revamped Trailhawk with it — at least temporarily. Now, the automaker confirmed a new Trailhawk is indeed coming this year, but obviously with a change in powertrain.
The company made an official statement to that effect: “Today, we are excited to confirm that the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk is coming later this year.” It also offered a fresh look at the new Trailhawk, noting its Trail Rated capability that will arrive “as the brand continues its new product blitz with valued Jeep content, capability, and more, as a reflection of the brand’s purpose-built identity.”
If you zoom out a bit, getting a new Grand Cherokee Trailhawk was pretty much a foregone conclusion. Its absence leaves a serious void in the brand’s dirt-worthy offerings, since not everyone necessarily wants to just jump into a Wrangler. The big question here, however, is exactly what will power this new model, now that the 4xe is out of the picture.
Stellantis could go a couple different directions here. The rest of the 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee lineup debuted a new 2.0-liter Hurricane inline-four, putting out 324 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque. That’s a decent amount of grunt in its own right, but…that’s not exactly what enthusiasts are clamoring for. And you know where I’m going with this.
Much like four letters encapsulate the off-road brand we’ve all loved for the past 85 years, there are another that could define the most capable version of the Grand Cherokee: H-E-M-I. It’s not even farfetched, considering the previous-generation GC Trailhawk did pack a 5.7-liter V8, at least as an option. That bumped up your available power to 360 horsepower and 390 lb-ft, which would still be a decent uplift, even over the new Hurricane.
Right now, the only V8 Jeep is actively running in its lineup is the big Hemi, with the Wrangler Rubicon/Moab 392. We’ll have to wait and see just what Jeep does for the Grand Cherokee, but it’s been keen these past couple years to once again pack a Hemi into its more iconic models, at least. It would be a far more heroic return than just offering the Trailhawk with your run-of-the-mill Pentastar V6…but we’ll have to wait and see what comes our way in the next few months. Odds are, when we do see it, the revamped Grand Cherokee Trailhawk will now launch as a 2027 model.
