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One thing is now clear: Ram bringing back the Hemi was celebrated by many Mopar faithful, but the fact it came back as the eTorque variant with the 48-volt mild-hybrid system was divisive to say the least. Just scroll through forums and Reddit as proof.
In Detroit, Michigan during an exclusive one-on-one discussion for the latest episode of The Drivecast, Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis told The Drive the automaker dropped the mild-hybrid system on the Hemi V8. We knew this to be the case for the 5.7-liter Hemi V8 in the Rumble Bee, but whether it would expand beyond the revived muscle truck was unclear. Now we know the simpler V8 without the electrification system will indeed filter into other trims, but there are still countless questions to be answered.
Listen to the entire conversation starting at the moment Kuniskis discusses the mild-hybrid system and the Ram 1500 below.
Kuniskis said, “When we launched the—the Rumble Bee, I made the joke because I didn’t want to overtly say, ‘Hey, we dropped the mild hybrid on the Hemi” because a lot of people would take that as a very negative comment. So I said, ‘Hey, it’s only got one battery.’ It’s very much a ‘if you know, you know.’” Indeed, cheeky.
The plot twist came next as Kuniskis said, “Because if you didn’t know what I was talking about, you probably would have been insulted by me saying, ‘Hey, we removed the hybrid.’ But if you knew what I was talking about, you’re like, ‘Hell yeah, that’s a good idea.’”
But Kuniskis then took things a step further and laid out the non-hybrid Hemi spreading to a less expensive Express trims.
“But think about what that enables. When we brought the Hemi back, we put it into the light-duty truck, we already had the T6 [turbocharged inline-six] there, we put the Hemi in it, and we charged $1,200 for the Hemi. Then we take the mild-hybrid off—the customer is like, this is the exact opposite of what I was just talking about with Cherokee—we take the mild-hybrid off, the customers applaud taking the mild-hybrid off, and we now have a tailwind of profitability in that car. What does that do? If I say, ‘Oh, that’s great for our bottom line as a company,’ the people listening to this podcast are like, ‘Who cares? I don’t care.’ I’ll tell you what it does for the customer, though: it allows me to go deeper into my Express trims. I can get deeper into my Black Expresses with Hemis in them and things like that. So now I can sell you a $50,000 net-of-incentive Black Express truck with a Hemi, with a mild—or without the mild hybrid system, and the customer’s going to get a huge gain. That’s what it does,” Kuniskis said.
Questions exist without answers to all this for now. Will the eTorque 48-volt mild-hybrid Hemi V8 still exist at all? When will non eTorque 5.7-liter Hemi V8s spread to non Rumble Bee trucks? Will pricing on the Hemi V8 engine option change? The questions, for now, have no answers.
But one thing is clear straight from the man in charge of Ram: a simpler 5.7-liter Hemi V8 engine without the mild-hybrid system is coming to other light-duty trucks in Ram showrooms.
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As Director of Content and Product, Joel draws on over 15 years of newsroom experience and inability to actually stop working to help ensure The Drive shapes the future of automotive media. He’s also a World Car Award juror.
