(July 16, 2011) AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Chrysler Group has officially elevated its in-house performance division — the Street and Racing Technology (SRT) team — to a separate company brand that promises to maintain its successful formula to design, engineer and build benchmark American high-performance vehicles for Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge.

The launch of SRT as the company’s performance brand comes as three additional vehicles are set to rejoin the 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 in the expanding SRT lineup. Making their returns to the vehicle lineup are the 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8, 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8 and 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8.

2012 Dodge Charger SRT

All four new SRT vehicles share a common powerplant — the new 6.4-liter (392 cubic-inch) HEMI V-8 engine that features more horsepower and more torque than ever before across a significantly wider rpm range, while intake and exhaust technologies lead to improved fuel efficiency.

Prices, including $825 shipping, are:

• 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8 -- $46,660

• 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8 -- $47,995

• 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 -- $55,295

• 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 -- $44,077 (price does not include a $1,300 gas guzzler tax on the automatic transmission and $1,000 for the six-speed manual.)


2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT                 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT 

The heart of the performance cars is the 6.4-liter Hemi V-8 engine that cranks out 470 horsepower and 470 lb. ft. of torque in the Challenger, Charger and 300. The horsepower is the same for the Grand Cherokee, but the torque is slightly different: 465 lb. ft. It is the most powerful Hemi V-8 Chrysler has ever made.

“SRT lives on as the in-house performance team of the Chrysler Group that adheres to our five existing performance hallmarks centered around building the best high-performance vehicles for the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brands,” said Ralph Gilles, the newly assigned President and CEO, SRT Brand and Motorsports. “Being a separate brand will allow our team to expand the dedicated engineering and marketing resources for specific performance vehicles.

"We will look to delight SRT customers and evolve our business model with the performance enthusiast in mind. The SRT vehicle lineup will continue to make the latest in contemporary luxury features available to our customers, while carefully integrating active and passive safety features. We strive to never lose focus on driver involvement and vehicle character while maintaining each of the vehicle brand’s key design differentiators.”