It hasn't officially gone on sale, yet already there's talk about a high-performance variant of the new Jeep Cherokee. Official production of the new crossover has also been delayed due to unresolved problems with its nine-speed transmission, but this issue clearly hasn't stopped Jeep product planners from doing their job. A so-called Cherokee SRT4, however, wouldn't be powered by the Grand Cherokee SRT8's 6.4-liter Hemi V8 for one very good reason: the engine is just too big for the mid-size Cherokee.

Instead, Jeep could opt for a high-output four-pot or even a six-cylinder engine, either of which would easily fit in the engine bay. As of now, the most powerful engine option the Cherokee has is the new 3.2-liter Pentastar V6 that's good for 266 horsepower. Nothing is for certain just yet and before Jeep hands the Cherokee over to the crew at SRT for a shot of adrenaline, an effective business case would need to be made. If Jeep comes to the conclusion that it can make a profit, then a Cherokee SRT4 is a very real possibility.