AUBURN HILLS, MI – It’s back, and that’s good news for Ram pickup fans, many of whom will be greatly relieved to know they haven’t seen the last of the Hemi after all.
The iconic V-8 engine, which was dropped from the truck brand’s lineup for the 2025 model year, is returning to the fold.
The venerable 5.7L Hemi V-8 will be offered beginning this summer in a staggered rollout as a $1,200 option on most 2026 Ram 1500 models, including the Tradesman, Express, Warlock, Big Horn/Lone Star, Laramie and Limited/Longhorn (no extra charge). It also will be available on the Rebel grade late in the model year.
Ram’s base powerplant for 2026 will continue to be the 3.6L Pentastar eTorque V-6 that generates 305 hp and 271 lb.-ft. (365 Nm) of torque. The 3.0L Hurricane inline-6, a 2024 Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems winner, also remains in the lineup, including with a high-output version delivering 540 hp and 521 lb.-ft. (706 Nm) of torque.
But despite the availability of the performance-minded Hurricane, some Ram buyers were unhappy the plug had been pulled on the Hemi, leaving them with no V-8 option, a largely unforced error – likely influenced by U.S. policy – that Stellantis is moving quickly to correct.
“There are 3.6 million people out there with a Hemi” (today), Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis says, revealing that some pickup owners had threatened never to come back to the brand if there were no Hemi in the lineup, making the investment to resurrect the V-8 a no-brainer.
About 75%-80% of truck buyers are loyal to one brand or another, Kuniskis notes, “so if you lose those people, good luck getting them back. It will be expensive, and it’s a lot more effective to give them back the Hemi.”
The trucks won’t carry a “Hemi” badge this time around, however. Ram has crafted a new insignia featuring a Ram’s head mated to a stylized V-8 engine block that will serve as the telltale sign there’s a Hemi under the hood.
Hemi Hybrid Version Returning
The returning V-8 will be the eTorque 48V hybrid version of the 5.7L that delivers 395 hp and 410 lb.-ft. (556 Nm) of torque. Ram has no plans to bring back the high-performance 6.2L Hemi V-8 that powered the TRX model, at least for now.
Getting the 5.7L into the lineup presented a much easier task than the 6.2L, because it already had been fitted to the Jeep Grand Wagoneer that shares its STLA body-on-frame platform with the Ram 1500 light-duty pickups. Kuniskis says Stellantis fast-tracked a program allowing it to get the 5.7L in shape for its Ram return in just six months, rather than the 18 months initially envisioned. The Hemi is no longer offered in the Grand Wagoneer but is available in some Jeep models.
Why would a Ram truck buyer prefer the Hemi to the more powerful Hurricane?
“If you look at the stat sheets, horsepower, torque, towing capability, fuel economy and all that, of course you’d buy the (Hurricane 6-cyl.),” Kuniskis says at a recent backgrounder here on Ram’s Hemi gameplan. “But we know a lot of people are going to buy the Hemi, because they love the idea of a V-8, they love the instant torque, and they love the sound. That’s why we’re putting a sport exhaust on every single one of them.”
That urge for V-8 DNA is likely to attract significant numbers, the Ram executive believes, predicting that once the supply pipeline evens out, between 25% and 40% of Ram pickup buyers will choose the Hemi. That forecast is based on observed Ford F-150 purchase patterns, where he says about 25% of owners opt for a V-8 over a V-6.
“I think we’ll do better than a 25% take rate, because Hemi is kind of a thing – it’s a brand in and of itself,” he says.
The Hemi V-8 is produced in Saltillo, Mexico, but that could change. Kuniskis refuses to discuss how Trump Admin. on-again-off-again tariffs could impact the brand’s sales, its market strategies or its sourcing, saying: “Who knows what’s going to happen (with tariffs). It’s a headwind, but we’ll work our way through it.”
A Stellantis spokesman says only that Saltillo remains the production site of the Hemi “for now.”
Hemi Return Should Boost Ram Sales
Kuniskis, who rejoined Stellantis as Ram CEO in December after a six-month retirement, is hoping the reintroduction of the Hemi to the lineup – plus several other initiatives still to be announced – will keep sales momentum headed in the right direction.
Although total U.S. Ram volume reached only 93,368 vehicles in the first quarter, down 2.0% from year-ago levels, and is expected to remain flat with 2024 at the half-year mark, Kuniskis expects retail deliveries to be up more than 25% through June.
That performance is as designed, he says, because Ram is production-constrained and the brand has emphasized building vehicles for the more-profitable retail market, rather than daily-rental fleets.
“We had a short (supply) channel,” Kuniskis says. “It was an easy decision (to concentrate on retail). Eventually we’ll get back (to a normal) pace, like we always have. But for now, we’re focused on retail.
“To me, retail is really the measure of your products, because those are customers that are buying one at a time,” he adds. Overall, Kuniskis expects total global Ram sales, including fleets, to top 230,000 units this year.Hemi’s market reentry is just the first of a string of what Kuniskis says will be more than 25 Ram product announcements and new-model unveils to come between now and the end of 2026. Those will include an extended-range electric vehicle due later this year. Further out is a midsize pickup, widely expected to be built at Stellantis’ Belvidere, IL, plant beginning in 2027. That would mark the first midsize truck from the automaker since the Dodge Dakota was dropped from the lineup in 2011.
