FCA has been quite busy in their engineering bays, design studios, and out with the people who buy their products, especially through their Mopar channels, and they’ve been working a two-pronged approach to satisfying customer demand. On one side, you have all things Hemi: from the 5.7L cars through the wicked Hellcat 6.2L powered vehicles, modern Mopar performance is hot. And FCA had answers for that group in the form of two crate engines: the aluminum Gen III Hemi block in 6.1 and 6.4L sizes, and the star of the show, the full-kit plug and play “Hellcrate” system, which can be ordered from just the swap kit all the way to the 100% ready to go, everything included powertrain package.

But snotty, raw V8 power wasn’t the only thing to be seen in the Mopar camp. This year Jeep is in the public’s eye because there’s a new Wrangler on the way. The Jeep Wrangler is one of those vehicles that causes worry among fans whenever a refreshing is undertaken because they are concerned about the dilution over what they feel the Jeep brand is supposed to be. While we didn’t get to see a JL Wrangler on stage, we did get treated to the first official photographs of the upcoming Wrangler in the press conference on Tuesday via a video. But there were other Jeeps to look at…namely, a selection of Easter Jeep Safari Wranglers that have been drool-worthy since we first saw hints of them early in the year. We’re torn between the CJ Sixty-Six and the Shortcut as our favorites here, but you can make your own selection. 

In other modern vehicle viewing, the Dodge Durango SRT made an appearance, dressed up in bits from the Mopar catalog. We first set eyes on the Durango SRT in the Modern Street Hemi Shootout show lot during the Woodward Dream Cruise festivities this summer, and our opinion is the same: if you want a people mover that can quicken your pulse but need more room than a Jeep SRT Trackhawk can provide, this is the one you want.

And for fans of the classic Mopar metal, there were a couple of very nice examples on the floor, all packing late-model Mopar power. The Superbird is a Graveyard Carz build utilizing the Hellcrate system, giving the Aero Mopar a power advantage even the NASCAR versions could’ve dreamed of back in 1970. Chris Jacob’s Plymouth GTX, fresh from an engine fire that gave the car’s old big-block the quick-sear treatment and the Mopar Dodge shop truck were also sitting pretty.