Video highlights of this vehicle

What Is It?

Jeep Hurricane Concept

What's Special About It?

This daring 4x4 concept is said to outperform even Jeep's current prestige model — the Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon. The Hurricane is powered by not one, but two 5.1-liter Hemi engines, which are located in both the front and rear of the vehicle. Each of these engines yields 335 horsepower and 370 pound-feet of torque for a combined rating of 670 hp and 740 lb-ft of torque. Chrysler's Multi-Displacement System allows the driver to choose between the use of four, eight, 12 or 16 cylinders. The Hurricane derives its uniquely superior off-road abilities from a combination of innovative features, which include a central transfer case with split axles, mechanically controlled four-wheel torque distribution system, front and rear short/long arm independent suspension and the ability to spin in a perfect circle on its own axis. As if the off-road potential of this concept wasn't enough, Jeep is claiming that the Hurricane can speed from zero to 60 in less than 5 seconds.

What's Edmunds' Take?

For its great surprise of this year's NAIAS, the Chrysler Group has gone in the polar opposite direction of its ME-412 concept of 2004 and instead designed a vehicle that would not look out of place in a Mad Max movie, or possibly even Tora Bora. It's obvious that Chrysler sought to steal the show once again, and in terms of pure audacity, the company might well have succeeded. Of course, the fact that this technological spectacle can make a 360-degree turn is enough to dumbfound even the greatest skeptics. Maybe Jeep finally has built the vehicle that can truly "go anywhere," and if the company is to be taken at face value, the Hurricane is capable of scaling a skyscraper. "Responsible excess" indeed!— Phil Lienert