If anything’s certain in life, it’s the presence of change. Case in point: Look at the announcements made by Stellantis over the past few months. From bringing up production timelines for the gasoline-powered Charger and the Ram 1500 Ramcharger range extender hybrid to keeping the Hemi in the Durango, it seems like a focus on North America is back. What’s more, the automaker seems to still be shuffling its North American product planning, and it’s even contacting suppliers about putting the 5.7-liter Hemi V8 back into the Ram 1500.
Let’s start with some Chrysler news. Remember the Airflow crossover concept from 2022? Well, Chrysler went back to the drawing board after about a year and a half in favor of a new electric crossover project. Reportedly called C6X (CA), this new electric crossover project is expected to adopt cues from the Halcyon concept. However, its future is now in doubt.
Last week, Mopar Insiders obtained an email that claims development of this new EV has been paused. While the bulletin displays an effective date through the end of the month, it’s possible the pause could go on longer than that. The wording of the email is pretty unambiguous, stating “The C6X (CA) program has been put on hold until further notice. Therefore, any spending associated with this program should be suspended immediately.”
It’s possible that an alleged pause in a program may be due to spending cuts, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s 2025 and Stellantis still doesn’t quite have a mainstream electric crossover on sale in America. The Wagoneer S plays in the luxury space and even it hasn’t really ramped up production yet.
Considering that the crossover utility vehicle is the hottest body style on the market right now from a sales perspective, the absence of a vehicle in this segment feels like a weak point for the automaker and really makes you wonder what’s next. Well, the next big thing could be giving the fans what they want. After killing off the Hemi in its light-duty trucks for the 2025 model year, Stellantis definitely seems to be at least weighing the possibility of the Ram 1500 getting a V8 again. If everything goes through, there’s a chance it could happen as soon as next year.
An industry source has contacted us with news of an email coming from upstream titled “STLA DT 5.7L Hemi Reintroduction for 2026MY” and we’ve been able to corroborate that yes, this is something Stellantis is actively pursuing. The source also stated that components could start coming together in the second quarter of this year.
That would require Stellantis to make a decision soon, as the proposed timeline seems incredibly tight. Ram boss Tim Kuniskis seems enthusiastic about the idea of offering the Hemi again, but don’t take that as a sure sign of a V8 revival just yet. While Ford has shown that appetite exists to offer both a V8 and a boosted six simultaneously, any plans at Stellantis will likely be in the early stages, seeing what bringing back the Hemi would cost and deciding whether or not it’s feasible and worthwhile.
See, the 5.7-liter V8 is built in the Saltillo engine plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico. That same plant has now been tooled up for three-liter Hurricane inline-six production, and while it still seems to be cranking out 5.7-liter Hemi engines for the Durango, overall capacity limitations need to be taken into account. In addition, updated supplier contracts for 5.7-liter engine components would need to be inked, and that takes a whole lot of downstream coordination.
Another barrier to putting the 5.7-liter V8 back in the Ram 1500 is emissions certification. It’s no secret that the Hemi was initially killed off due to environmental concerns, so new emissions calibration may be needed. Also, the 2025 facelift of the Ram 1500 ushered in significant electrical architecture updates, so Stellantis would need to make the engine play nice with the rest of the truck. Still, have a little hope. With the Ram 1500’s spot in the sales race threatened by the Toyota Tundra, Stellantis is likely hungry to reclaim its spot, and a V8 might just do the trick.
Oh, and there’s another bit of potential Ram news worth noting — the same source also reached out to us with word that an email from Stellantis states that the long-range Ram 1500 REV electric pickup truck has been canceled, leaving just the standard-range variant on the table for now. Again, this hasn’t been publicly confirmed by Stellantis yet, but it wouldn’t be a surprising move for the automaker to make. Given that the all-electric Ram has been delayed to 2025 in order to prioritize production of the Ram 1500 Ramcharger range extender series hybrid, a shift in priorities seems plausible.
For now, we’ll just have to see how these possible decisions play out. There’s a genuine chance a V8 could end up back in the Ram 1500 soon as Stellantis focuses more on internal combustion in its North American lineup, and at the end of the day, giving consumers what they want would be a smart move.
(Photo credits: Ram, Chrysler)
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8mpg here they come!
Honestly they really just need to continue to follow ford on this. maybe just use the 6.4 when a V8 is optioned. The Iron 6.4 make 400 HP, it fits anywhere the 5.7 did, and it could live next to the turbo six as the bait for the switch at the dealership.
Is the 6.4 as proven as the 5.7 though? I’m by no means a Mopar expert but I have toyed with the idea of getting a Charger or Challenger in the past and the general consensus on the forums was that the 5.7 was way less problematic and took to mods much better. A lot of people preferred it to the 6.4 and it’s been used on a much larger scale so parts are plentiful.
https://i.redd.it/k4tli0czjgtb1.png
Time, money, and more resources taking away more models to Chrysler and Dodge.
Oh well, at least I can make more money from the additional parts sales for when those junkers break.
With what’s happening in five days, I expect a V8 in every American vehicle, and a federal ban on sixes and fours.
Brawndo, it got what plants crave.
It’s got electrolytes!
I’ll take a V8 Hyundai Santa Cruz please
The Ramcharger is 100 percent the right focus. There’s no competition out there for that. I’d love to commute on electric and be able to tow my trailer on gas, but then use electric again around the campground.
With the new engine having more hp, torque, and better fuel economy than the Hemi, I don’t understand putting the Hemi back in it. The tow rating went down a little, but payload didn’t really change and that matters way more than tow rating in a half ton truck.
It’s literally just to appease their customers who consider smaller engines girly, or something. (Partial) joking side, if you’re going to be one of the like 10% of people who actually use their trucks for truck stuff and/or work then a big under stressed NA engine is going to last longer and require less maintenance than an overboosted straight 6. And by all accounts they borked the Hurricane pretty badly.
That’s true… I’m less and less trusting of these smaller turbo engines. I don’t put large number of miles on things (like 8-10,000 miles a year), so mechanically things seem to last for me, but I do agree that the Hemi will probably last longer with less problems than the turbo 6.
I’ve had two turbo 4s in a row and both of them have had issues in the first 15,000 miles. My GTI had a misfiring problem that they never fully figured out and my Kona N spent several weeks going into limp mode. They were talking full engine replacement if their final fix (replacing the knock sensors that kept sending it into limp mode) didn’t work. That was done about two months ago so so far so good, but I’m quickly becoming weary of turbos.
I’ve said for many years that a turbo 4 is just fine if:
That describes a lot of Europe, give or take a little. A lot of the developing world, as well. The US, not so much.
I’ve got a broad appreciation for turbos and what they can do, but I never pretended they’re weren’t made up of too many moving parts and failure points (my first enthusiast friends were late 90s VAG 1.8t people and proved this many times over)
Not that I completely disagree, but the VW 1.8T was horrendous and is pretty old to use as an example in a world of DI and almost no-lag turbos. I had a friend who loved the 1.8Ts, too. He had three of the same Audi A4s so he could have one running at any given time. Of the other people I knew who had them in other various VW products, most of them lost an engine. Sort of OTOH, my Focus ST was Corolla-reliable for 180k and the problem that lunched that engine was an unrelated Ford issue that had nothing to do with being turbocharged (some design/manufacturing issue that would eventually cause the coolant passage between the head and block to allow coolant into cylinders 2 and/or 3).
IMO, much of the problem is the way the turbos are often being used with engines that have been downsized too much to move the car adequately off boost, putting more stress on the engine more often only to end up with real world mileage that a reasonably sized N/A would match or beat most of the time far more reliably while running on the cheap fuel. The ST was a 2.0 and the N/A 2.0 was completely fine for moving the car. In that case, the turbo wasn’t there to make up for an undersized engine, it was there for when greater performance was desired (I also averaged about 30mpg in the ST vs 36mpg in my 5MT SE) at least until Ford had to be Ford. For the flipside example, there was Ford’s 1.0 Ecoboost that was a reliability nightmare (also partly down to some Ford design BS) with barely better real world mileage than the 2.0 N/A, but with a lot less hp and was more expensive to buy and run (more torque, but that also means it’s under boost). LSPI is also an issue—even more so with the weedwhackers that need to be boosted more often and the quick-spool turbos—and I don’t know if the usual automatic transmissions are programmed to downshift and avoid that situation when the typical driver certainly isn’t.
I am pretty happy they did not completely drop the motors though. in the 2500 truck world the gass 6.4 strangely has a better reputation than the newish 6.8/7.3 Ford and the Oil drinking, but DFM free 6.6. Ram needs to avoid Borking that up if they want to survive.
Can you share the “by all accounts”? I follow auto sites often…and I don’t remember hearing anything along the lines of Toyota’s engine problems
I recall a lot of headlines about issues in recalls not that long ago…but I could very well be talking out of my ass here.
It would really just be for the 30 percent or more of the older generation looking to buy right now. Keep the Ramcharger and the Turbski 3.0 in the bread and butter stuff so it can prove it’s reliability and then like the Ford 5.0 and ultimately the 5.2 Raptor R engines they will probably go way in the end. Ram’s failure was going cold turkey on the V8.
Hear me out Hemi Powered Ramcharger. Hemi powers the generator, the generator powers the batteries. I like the idea of the Ramcharger so I’m glad they are prioritizing that particular model
Why would they do that? It’s a significantly less efficient engine than the Pentastar that they’re using and it’s not like you’ll be able to wring out a range extender anyway. It’s just there to hum along in the background. Like 95% of what makes V8s enjoyable is the sound they make when you return to monke with the go pedal.
because ‘murica
The Carlos Tavares years were pretty much lost time for Stellantis North America. Now they basically have to reset the clock and follow through on plans that they may have made if Tavares had never been around to cut them off at the knees.
And considering that pre-merger FCA’s final few years were almost devoid of product planning while they chased tie-ups with other companies, this past decade must have been incredibly frustrating for any CDJR managers who actually wanted to run a car company.
Society continues its healing from the crazy days of 2020-22.
On one hand, I do appreciate a good V8 and am happy that they’re not all gone just yet. The general consensus seems to be that the 5.7 is quite solid as well. On the other hand, it’s absolutely hilarious to me that Stellantis STILL doesn’t have anything other than Hemi all the things in their repertoire.
Like, you’ve basically had a decade plus to find a way to offer compelling, electrified products, and the thing that’s finally going to rescue them from their own incompetence is *checks notes* putting Hemis in shit? In 2025? Really? That’s ALL you’ve got?
Short term that’s all that’s needed.
Well the issue seems to be that they did play with other ideas — turbo I6, BEV — and their customers resoundingly replied with middle fingers. I do agree that it is a step backwards, but if it looks to be a profitable path for STLA, then who can blame them?
Business wise I can’t blame them, but it’s a band aid on bullet wound. They spent all of the 2010s and early 2020s loudly and proudly kicking the can down the road in favor of a V8 rumble and doing it now won’t fix anything other than some short term sales. Eventually you have to pay the piper.
Ford and GM played this much better. They developed emissions compliant modern V8s alongside lots of electrified/low or no emissions products. As a result they can keep selling stuff with V8s without issue. Stellantis doesn’t have any of that and they’ll likely have to keep buying carbon credits from other companies to remain compliant while reintroducing V8s.
It’s fine for now, but it could be catastrophic later on. And even if what manufacturers are hoping for happens and the incoming administration basically throws all environmental protections and regulations out the window it won’t be that way forever.
While I can’t argue about what FCA was doing in the teens, the treatment of Mopar brands under Stellantis since 2021 has been especially damaging in my opinion. As you state, they don’t have much more than Hemi all the things right now. But since it was all they had, the choice to do away with it makes even less sense. Bringing it back is a potentially very strong short term solution. Its not a perfect one, its not a long term one, but if they can get away with it, its a very good short term one.
I mean they’re still cranking out 6.4’s for the 2025 HD trucks, so just put those in the 1500’s and call it a day.
It all depends on the wiring and computers already in the truck.
And crash testing, emissions certification….
Yes
I support this decision. The bigger the better!