The new 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 has had it’s official reveal in the States at the New York Auto Show and it arrives with the intriguing title of the ‘fastest Jeep ever built’.

How fast can a Jeep possibly be? Well it will sprint from 0-100kph in just 4.8 seconds and push on to a restricted 250kph top speed. If you want to be a quarter mile hero it will cover the distance in the mid-13-second range.

Laying at the heart of the beast is a 6.4-litre Hemi V8 pumping out 347kW of power and will apparently get 13-percent better fuel economy than the outgoing model. To achieve this feat Jeep has employed a new active exhaust system that lets the cylinder-deactivating Fuel Saver Technology operate over a wider RPM band.

According to Jeep the Grand Cherokee SRT8 can handle too, thanks in part to a new Selec-Track system with five driving modes. In it’s sportiest settings this go-hard Jeep can hold on for a .90-g skid pad performance.

In the cabin there’s some serious spec with standard features including satellite radio, a DVD and MP3-capable stereo and new steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters. Optional kit includes a 19-speaker, 825-watt Harmann-Kardon stereo complete with a 10-inch subwoofer, a dual-pane tinted sunroof and a power liftgate.

How does it go offroad? Probably not so flash, but this high-performance Jeep is much too pretty to go getting muddy. It’s built for the tarmac.