STUTTGART — Spy photographs suggest DaimlerChrysler's Dodge subsidiary may be working on a hot-rod version of its forthcoming Nitro SUV, perhaps a model from the Chrysler Group's high-performance SRT brand. But Dodge executives are still evaluating the possibility of such a model and say it's too early to make a decision. A Dodge spokeswoman told Inside Line, "I can't imagine" the company would do a Nitro SRT.

The base-model Nitro will come out next year as a 2007 model. Although recent reports have said the Nitro will go into production in about a year, a different Dodge spokeswoman told Inside Line that production could come sooner. She added, "I would think [the production model] would use" the 210-hp, 3.7-liter V6 engine from the Nitro prototype and Jeep Liberty SUV, with which the Nitro shares mechanical underpinnings.

The Nitro seems likely to come in both two- and four-wheel-drive configurations. With Chrysler Group vehicles "there's never just one model," said one of the spokeswomen. Neither had information about a different sort of Nitro recently captured by spy photographers: one that apparently has low-profile tires, 20-inch wheels, and a modified air intake.

What this means to you: If the spies are right, this is a hot rod to look forward to from DCX.



Link: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=108098

There are 2 V6's planned.

Those headlights are GOD-awfull... srt or not.