V8 Ram 1500s probably aren’t coming back

While Ram has relented to public demand and committed to bringing back the ‘Hemi’ V8 for its 1500 pick-up in North America, the brand’s local operation says the resumption of V8 supply is far from locked in for Australia – and may never happen.

Aussie fans of Ram’s throbbing Hemi V8 aren’t going to like this one… While Ram has backflipped on its plans to dump the 1500’s V8 option in favour of a six-cylinder engine in North America, the outlook for a V8 revival in Australia is fairly bleak.

“If at some point in the future we are offered another Hemi, and there is consumer demand for it, and there’s a solid business case, we’ll have a look at it,” Ram Trucks Australia general manager Jeff Barber said.

“There are no guarantees, but any decision like that takes a long time to consider and bring to market – so nothing in the next couple of years, that’s for sure.”

Instead, Ram 1500 customers will have to settle for the ‘Hurricane’ family of 3.0-litre inline-sixes: with the ‘Standard Output’ (SO) is good for 313kW/635Nm in the 1500 Rebel and Laramie Sport, while the ‘High Output’ (HO) version puts out 403kW/707Nm.

Both the SO and HO Hurricanes provide substantially more power and torque than the 5.7-litre naturally-aspirated Hemi V8 (291kW/556Nm) they replaced, and that’s part of the problem.

With the Hemi tracing its lineage back 74 years, some might call it ‘traditional’… while others would more accurately describe it as “outdated”.

And while the local conversion operation run by Walkinshaw was previously configured for V8-powered DT Ram 1500s, there would still be a certain amount of re-tooling and re-training required to run V8s down the same line as the sixes.

And then there’s the emissions angle. Assuming the Hemi was added back into the local lineup, it would attract significant penalties under the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which would in turn more than likely impact its price.

Bottom line: bringing back the 5.7 is possible, but it would offer no objective advantage over the stronger (and more efficient) turbo sixes, and it could very well cost more than the Hurricane too. You’d pay more for less.

But that wasn’t the only Hemi that made it under the bonnet of Australian 1500s.

The trail-crushing 1500 TRX was also sold in Australia with a supercharged 6.2-litre Hemi that cranked out 523kW/882Nm, and while not yet confirmed, Ram is said to be planning a return of the blown monster for North America, which may open the door to an Aussie redux.

“We sold 983 units [of TRX] between Australia and New Zealand, so yes, it was a very significant model for us,” Barber said.

“There is speculation around the world as to what might happen with TRX, but I don’t want to talk to that speculation – it’s up to the US to determine what they’re going to do with that.”

But in the absence of the TRX, the six-pot RHO may fill that hardcore sports 4x4 role in Australia, with Barber confirming it’s under study for our market.

“RHO is something we’ve had a look at, and we’ll continue to look at.

“I think we’ve all been very impressed by that Hurricane HO that is in the RHO, so I think there’s potentially room for an RHO at some point in the future.

“It’s open to us… the price point, though – and particularly given where the currency is right now – is something we’ve got to be careful with.”

That said, Ram’s prior experience with the TRX (which was priced between $200-250K in Australia) suggests a surprisingly high tolerance for expensive utes in Down Under, provided the performance is up to snuff.

“When we launched TRX we thought there’d only be a certain number of people in Australia who could afford to buy a TRX, but we were constantly surprised,” Barber said.

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