Ram boss says taking away Hemi V8 was ‘anti-American’

Ram boss Tim Kuniskis said taking away the Hemi V8 from the Ram 1500 was anti-American.

While the V8 option is still available for the 2500 and 3500 models, it is no longer possible to buy the top-selling 1500 model with a V8.

We should point out that the Ram 1500 is currently not available with the Hemi V8 chiefly due to production-related issues.

But hopefully that’ll change soon.

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Why the Ram 1500 is no longer available with a V8

While you’ll still find the 6.4-liter V8 in the 2025 Ram 2500 and 3500, the 5.7-liter and 6.2-liter V8 options are no longer available in the 1500.

Instead, they’ve been replaced by a twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six engine that produces 540 horsepower.

It’s actually more powerful than the V8 but, well, it is not a V8.

Speaking to Road & Track, Tim Kuniskis explained why this is still a big deal.

“Americans love freedom of choice more than anything,” he said.

“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.”

Kuniskis went on to say that it’s too early to bring the V8 back, but the market will ultimately be the judge.

The reason automakers are downsizing

We’ve seen this happen a million times.

Think of your favorite sportscar or performance car, and it’ll almost certainly have a smaller, yet more powerful, engine than its predecessor.

Most supercars, for example, now use V6s.

The McLaren Artura uses a V6, as does the Ferrari 296 GTB.

Bentley did something similar as well with the Continental GT, which now uses a V8 instead of a W12.

The list goes on, and the reason is always the same – using a smaller engine with more/bigger turbos gives you more power while also cutting down emissions, which is a huge deal breaker these days.

And unfortunately that’s not a figure of speech, considering there are so many cars that are not available in certain markets, the iconic Nissan Z in Europe/UK for example, precisely because of that.

In the end, emissions and environmental concerns are driving behavior among manufacturers because – well – they’re seriously important.

After all, we need a planet to drive on, right?

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that driving can’t still be fun and fast.