- Ram is bringing again its well-known Hemi V8 engine after eradicating it from the corporate’s 2025 vehicles
- The 5.7-liter model is again, however not (but) bigger supercharged variations
- The Hemi will likely be a $1,200 choice on many Ram 1500 trim ranges
Coming Again as a $1,200 Choice and a ‘Protest’
Ram will carry again its not-long-gone 5.7-liter Hemi V8 engine as an choice on the Ram 1500 pickup for 2026. The transfer appears to be extra in regards to the firm’s picture than precise efficiency. The returning Hemi is much less {powerful} than the engine that changed it.
However Ram has seen its gross sales droop lately. The Ram 1500, lengthy the third-best-selling car in America, slipped to sixth in 2024.
Ram had launched smaller engines partly due to new gas financial system laws that kicked in throughout 2024 (though the brand new engines made little distinction to gas financial system). However the Trump administration has signaled that it’s going to ease these, returning to pre-2024 guidelines.
Ram President Tim Kuniskis says, “On the finish of every month, we rely gross sales to clients, to not statisticians or ideologues.” So, “information be damned,” he says, the less-powerful Hemi will return as an added-cost improve. It is going to include a brand new badge Ram calls — and we’re not making this up — “the Image of Protest.”
In 2025, Ram Gave Up on an Picture
- Ram constructed its advertising and marketing across the Hemi for a few years, however eliminated it as an choice over more durable gas financial system guidelines enacted final yr
Ram lengthy recognized because the Hemi firm. Mum or dad firm Stellantis constructed the pictures of two manufacturers — Ram for vehicles and Dodge for muscle automobiles — across the massive V8. Nevertheless, the corporate lower the Hemi engine from most of its lineup for the 2025 mannequin yr (the Durango nonetheless presents it, although).
That didn’t imply the top of high-powered fashions. Ram (and Dodge) changed the Hemi with a household of turbocharged inline-6-cylinder engines known as the Hurricane. The bottom engine within the 1500 has remained a V6 all alongside. However the non-compulsory improve, as soon as a Hemi V8, grew to become a Hurricane I6 for 2025.
Six-Cylinder Hurricane Nonetheless Extra Highly effective than V8 Hemi
- The 6-cylinder engine that changed it has extra energy than the V8 Hemi that Ram is bringing again
The bottom 5.7-liter Hemi Ram, faraway from the lineup, made 395 horsepower and sounded nice. It achieved 19 mpg in mixed metropolis and freeway driving when paired with 4-wheel drive (4WD).
The Hurricane that took its place made 420 hp however lacked the V8 grunt. Paradoxically, it achieves the identical 19 mpg.
Ram lengthy offered a extra {powerful} 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi, making 702 hp. It has not returned to the lineup. The height engine for 2026 will stay a Excessive-Output Hurricane, making 540 hp.
‘Freedom of Selection‘
- Ram says bringing the Hemi again is about “freedom of selection,” nevertheless it’s additionally about $1,200 extra on the sticker
So why is Ram making the transfer?
“Everybody makes errors, however the way you deal with them defines you. Ram screwed up once we dropped the HEMI — we personal it and we fastened it,” says Kuniskis. “We’re not simply bringing again a legendary V8 engine, we’re igniting an assertive product plan and increasing the liberty of selection in powertrain for our clients.”
The Hemi will likely be a $1,200 choice on the 2026 model-year Ram 1500 Tradesman, Massive Horn, Specific, Warlock, Laramie, Restricted, and Longhorn, and can seem on the Insurgent later. Ram hasn’t set costs for different engines, so we don’t know the way that compares to 2026 fashions with the Hurricane engine.
We’ll carry you a pricing replace as quickly as Ram proclaims one.
