Dodge celebrated 20 years of Hemi power this year…and is keeping it going through 2025!
What a difference a few weeks makes, huh? Almost immediately after former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares — supposed arbiter of the Hemi V8’s demise — stepped down from his role and Tim Kuniskis re-entered the picture (albeit over at Ram), Dodge announced Thursday that it would, in fact, keep production humming along for the Durango R/T and the SRT Hellcat through calendar year 2025.
You can thank Santa for that, the company implies in its statement saying its “supercharging the holiday season”.
“The Dodge Durango and the Hemi engine form a powerful pair, and Dodge will continue to produce the most powerful gas engine SUV on the planet into the 2025 calendar year,” said brand CEO Matt McAlear. “It’s the perfect capstone for our celebration of 20 years of Hemi-powered Durango models.”
In fact, we can pretty safely call this move for what it is — Stellantis reading the room. Mopar enthusiasts and fans of good-old V8 Americana have spent the last few years lambasting the automaker’s decision to kill the Hemi off in the first place. So, “due in part to market demand and customer feedback”, the company says, it’s keeping the V8-powered Durangos going alongside the base 3.6-liter Pentastar trims.
If Dodge ultimately killed off the Durango R/T and SRT Hellcat, as it planned to do after the 2025 model year production ends (so, basically now), it would have left the brand with no eight-cylinder options anywhere in its factory lineup. Referencing the market conditions, that wouldn’t have been a terribly smart move, considering Ford still offers plenty of V8 powerhouses from the Mustang to the F-150 pickup, while GM still offers V8s across its range of full-size SUVs and trucks.
Leading up to today’s news, Dodge did already roll out a host of Hemi-themed special models, including the SRT Hellcat Brass Monkey, the Hammerhead and the Silver Bullet, as well as the R/T 20th Anniversary Edition. The Hellcat models all manage 710 horsepower and 645 lb-ft of torque from their supercharged 6.2-liter engines, while the R/T churns out a still-pretty-hearty 360 horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque.
Sadly, although we did get the AlcHEMI as a sendoff for the Durango SRT 392 and it’s big, beefy 6.4-liter Hemi V8, that particular engine will not carry on through calendar year 2025.
It’s worth noting that this may ultimately be a stop-gap solution before the current Durango’s successor — possibly resurrecting the “Stealth” nameplate — hits the market. It doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ll suddenly see Hemi V8s rocking and rolling across Dodge’s entire lineup again in a stunning reversal of the past few years. But, this is still an opportunity to rejoice, for those folks who were cringing (or shouting) at the Hemi’s untimely death.
