Stellantis is trying to claw its way back from a bruising stretch in the U.S. market by going back to what built its brands in the first place: brash Jeeps, brawny Rams, and a full-throated Hemi V8 comeback. The company’s leadership is now openly tying its turnaround to a wave of new SUVs and trucks and a renewed commitment to traditional muscle alongside electrification. The strategy amounts to a high-stakes bet that American buyers still want displacement and attitude, as long as the price and efficiency are within reach.
At the center of that push is a promise of fresh Jeeps and Rams across key segments, capped by a revived Hemi program that aims to put V8s back into six figures of vehicles a year. The question I keep coming back to is not whether Stellantis can build these products, but whether it can balance nostalgia, regulation, and affordability quickly enough to stop the slide in share.
New Jeeps as the spearhead of a brand revival
Jeep is carrying much of the burden for Stellantis in the U.S., and the plan is to use new and returning nameplates to reverse years of softening sales. Stellantis has already pulled the wraps off a redesigned Jeep Cherokee, positioning the hybrid SUV as a reset for a name that had faded amid a yearslong slump. The company is also talking up a broader Jeep revival, with Jeep announcing the return of additional models and production tied to the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois as part of a comeback narrative. I see that as a signal that Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa wants Jeep not just to stabilize, but to grow again in segments where it once dominated.
The product cadence is already mapped out into 2026, with dealer guidance pointing to a slate of fresh metal. A preview of What is Coming for Jeep in 2026 highlights a new Cherokee with hybrid power, along with other Models that mix traditional off-road capability with updated Powertrains and Innovation. Layered on top of that, the Stellantis CEO has explicitly said the turnaround plan includes new Jeeps as a core pillar, putting the brand at the center of both volume and image-building efforts. For buyers, that likely means more electrified options that still look and feel like Jeeps, rather than a pivot to anonymous crossovers.
Ram’s next act: midsize trucks, SRT heat, and a Hemi-powered 1500
Ram is being asked to do just as much heavy lifting, and the roadmap there is equally aggressive. Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa has tied the company’s comeback to a new Ram midsize truck arriving in 2027, framing Ram as a growth engine in a segment the brand has left uncontested for too long. That truck now has a name, with Ram CEO Confirms that The Brand’s Future Midsize Truck Will, In Fact, Be Named Dakota, reviving a badge that still carries weight with truck traditionalists. A separate report notes that RAM CEO Confirms New Midsize Pickup Truck The upcoming pickup is expected to be priced around $40,000, which would drop it squarely into the heart of the midsize market.
Performance is also back on the menu. Filosa has teased that Ram has Two new SRT performance products in the works, with SRT once again being positioned as the halo for the truck line. At the same time, the brand is leaning into nostalgia with a V8 half-ton, as The HEMI Is Back and the 2026 Ram 1500 Reintroduces Iconic V8 Powerplant. For the brand’s core buyers, that combination of a new Dakota, hotter SRT variants, and a Hemi-powered 1500 is a clear message that Ram does not intend to cede any ground to Ford or GM on emotion or capability.
The Hemi V8 revival moves from rumor to production target
The centerpiece of Stellantis’ muscle-first strategy is the Hemi itself, which the company had only recently walked away from in favor of downsized turbo engines and EVs. In a call with analysts, executives made it clear that the Hemi V8 is as part of a broader push to reconnect with American performance buyers, a shift that aligns with a wider turnaround plan built around more muscle cars. That message has been reinforced publicly, with the Stellantis CEO telling investors that the turnaround plan includes new Jeeps, Ram trucks, and the return of the Hemi V8, with Pras Subramanian covering those remarks as a Senior Reporter. Behind the scenes, the company has been working to resurrect the engine quickly enough to keep loyal Ram owners from drifting away.
That effort is not small. A detailed account of Inside Stellantis describes a top secret mission to bring HEMI V8 power back to Ram trucks after the company had dropped the engine For the 2025 model year, compressing what was initially an 18 month engineering timeline. Another analysis of the business case notes that Stellantis resurrects the Hemi V8 engine specifically to forestall loss of Ram pickup owners, who were seen as at risk of defecting without a V8 option. To make the numbers work, Stellantis Targets 100,000 Engines for 2026 in what is described as HEMI Is Back in a Big Way, a volume that would put the V8 squarely back in the mainstream of its truck and SUV lineup rather than as a niche option.
Rebalancing EV ambitions with combustion reality
The Hemi revival is not happening in a vacuum, it is part of a broader rethink of Stellantis’ electrification roadmap. Under former leadership, the company had leaned heavily into battery electric vehicles, but reporting on future product plans makes clear that Stellantis alters EV plans and preps a Hemi resurgence, with Vince Bond Jr noting that Under former CEO Carlos Tavares the focus had been on a different mix of vehicles. The new approach keeps EVs and hybrids in the pipeline, including a planned Chrysler crossover, but it also restores combustion-heavy products that management believes are still essential to profitability. That recalibration is visible in the way Jeep is pairing hybrid systems with the Jeep Cherokee while still marketing it as a rugged SUV, and in the way Ram is blending turbo sixes with the revived V8.
Production planning reflects the same pragmatism. Citing inside sources, Citing Mopar Insiders, one report says Stellantis plans to restart V8 production in August and that Production May Shift Back to Michigan, a move that would tie the Hemi’s future to a state that has long been central to American engine building. The same leak suggests that the revived V8 will flow not only to the Ram but also to the Durango, and that it is being woven into multiple corners of Stellantis product planning. For regulators and environmental advocates, that mix of EVs, hybrids, and a high volume of V8s will be controversial, but for Stellantis the calculus appears straightforward: it needs profitable trucks and SUVs to fund the transition.
Affordability, volume, and the risk of a nostalgia trap
All of this product talk would be academic if Stellantis could not get prices to a level that keeps buyers in the fold, and that is where the company’s affordability push comes in. At the Detroit auto show, executives stressed that Stellantis will add more models under $40,000 and will investigate options under the $30,000 level, framing value as a central plank of the new CEO’s job about six months ago. That dovetails with the planned pricing of the Dakota around $40,000, and with the need to keep Hemi-equipped Rams from drifting too far upmarket. The risk is that the cost of emissions compliance and modern tech could push transaction prices higher than the headline figures suggest, especially on high-output V8 models.
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