Was it “Anti-American” For Stellantis to Take Away the Hemi V8? Ram CEO Says Yes.

Tim Kuniskis is back in charge at Ram, replacing Carlos Tavares’ short-lived term as CEO, and changes appear to be underway. Kuniskis is speaking out about the decision to drop the Hemi V8 from Ram lineup.

The 2025 Ram 2500 and 3500 models were recently revealed with a 6.4-liter V8 option, however the Ram 1500 lost its 5.7- and 6-2-liter Hemi engines for 2025, instead receiving a 305 horsepower 3.6-liter V6 as standard, with a twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six Hurricane engine that offers up to 420 horsepower and 469 pound-feet of torque as an option.

While the inline-six Hurricane does offer more performance when compared to the 395 horsepower 5.7-liter Hemi V8, Kuniskis has made it clear that he doesn’t agree with abandoning the Hemi V8 altogether.

The Ram executive, when speaking to Road & Track, boldy stated:

“Honestly, the bigger issue is not Hemi vs. T6. The bigger issue is we took away a fundamental American thing. Americans love freedom of choice more than anything. When you take away their freedom of choice and tell them ‘you must take this,’ they revolt. Whether it makes sense or not, it doesn’t matter. It’s anti-American, you’ve taken my flag away, **** you. It doesn’t mean they are making an irrational decision, maybe they are, maybe they aren’t, I don’t know. But we as Americans, that’s what we do.”

A quick search online shows that Dodge diehards are upset by the loss of the Hemi V8, and Kuniskis backs up that fact, also stating that he doesn’t believe the lack of a Hemi V8 option was responsible for the company’s dropping sales numbers. Last year, Ram reported a 16-percent drop in sales. Kuniskis points to production issues for that drop, stating that even simple trims are not rolling off the lines fast enough.

“When you look at something as absolutely critical—like if I made a mistake on a Challenger, I made a mistake and we move on and we fix it,” Kuniskis said. “You make a mistake on that [Ram], that’s a problem. That’s a Wall Street problem, that’s a board of directors problem, that’s a problem… I can tell you the sales suck. So the immediate first reaction is it must be because we don’t have the Hemi. Then I’m like no, that’s actually not true, because I don’t actually have any of these trucks in the trims I’m supposed to have on the market.”

Kuniskis’ thoughts on the Hemi V8 doesn’t guarantee that it’s coming back any time soon, but he didn’t flat out deny the possibility. More data is needed to make a determination, and for now, the Ram 1500 has been too short of supply to make any conclusions around comparative powertrain sales. Instead, the first focus will be aimed around fixing the production issues. But if the sales rebound, will there be a need to bring back the Hemi? Only time will tell.

“I have to know what the performance of this truck is first before I say Hemi is a problem,” Kuniskis explained. “Because I hear the noise, I hear ‘Hemi, Hemi, Hemi, Hemi, Hemi,’ but is it real or is it noise because you took it away. We’re all like that. You took something away that I love, and I love it too.”

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