Stellantis Will Triple Hemi Production This Year, Betting Buyers Still Crave V8 Power

With a change in leadership and looser fuel economy rules, Ram’s priorities for 2026 are shifting back to something familiar. Now under the direction of longtime muscle car enthusiast Tim Kuniskis, the brand is getting ready for a full-blown Hemi comeback.

Ram, which brought the Hemi back into focus late last year, has now confirmed that Stellantis intends to more than triple production of the engine in 2026.

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Production is already underway at the Saltillo Engine Plant in Mexico, where Stellantis is building the 5.7-liter, 6.4-liter, and 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8s. They’re assembled alongside the newer 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged Hurricane inline-six, a motor originally intended to take over from the Hemi entirely.

A Growing Bet on the Hemi

But Kuniskis sees strong continued demand for the old-school V8, estimating it could power as much as 35 percent of Ram’s 2026 lineup.

Last year, Stellantis turned out around 30,000 Hemi V8s, though only about a third made it into customers’ hands. That’s set to change this year.

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“This year, we’re going to go over 100,000,” Kuniskis told Mopar Insiders in a recent interview. “So now we’re going to start getting closer to what the actual consumer demand is for this engine.”

Kuniskis added that 2026 will be the year when the carmaker gets a proper idea of the sales mix between the Hurricane inline-six and the Hemis.

“So, 2026 is going to be really telling of what is the real mix between T6s and HEMIs,” he said, “because I’m adamant that T6 is a great engine. When you drive them back to back, the take rate of the HEMI is going to be maybe 35-ish percent.” Speaking with Top Speed, he acknowledged that some people think he’s too high with that estimate, while others suspect he is “way too low.”

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Whatever the take rate of the Hemis ends up being, Ram knows it’s important to offer its customers options.

“[Customers] were disappointed that we didn’t give them a choice. People hate not having a choice,” Kuniskis explained. “’Let me make the choice. Do I want the turbo-six SO, do I want the turbo-six HO, or do I want the Hemi?’”