Ram brought back the Hemi V-8 and NASCAR to reverse a 38% sales slide

Ram competes in the most profitable corner of the US market — full-size pickups are 'kind of the backbone of their business' and its share is 'hugely important', says Edmunds analyst Joseph Yoon — and it was getting smashed. Ram's sales fell 38% from the record 2019 year, and full-size truck sales dropped 41% from 2019 through 2024, letting General Motors and Toyota gain. The Ram 1500's share of the US full-size market fell from 17.8% in 2019 to 8.4% through roughly the first half of 2025, per Edmunds.

Tim Kuniskis, who had led Ram and Dodge until retiring mid-2024, was back within seven months, recruited amid the leadership shake-up that ended Carlos Tavares' tenure as Stellantis CEO in December 2024. He blames pricing, launch cadence and above all the Ram 1500 redesign: 'We tried to do too many things at once... We literally changed everything instead of doing a cadence of the changes' — production problems were still being worked out more than a year after launch.

The plan — more than 25 announcements into 2026 — would resurrect the Hemi V-8 as a 'Symbol of Protest', reintroduce lower-priced trims, return to NASCAR truck racing with a 'Ride the Hemi' mechanical bull, and put a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty across the lineup under a 'Nothing Stops Ram' campaign. Electrified pickups were delayed amid weak demand — the EREV enters production first, and Kuniskis calls it the real differentiator. He also handed 'Last Tenth LFG' wristbands to employees and dealers, resetting years of contention over incentives, products and price increases.

Early returns are modest but real: 12,000 Hemi orders landed the first day dealers could order the engine, retail sales are expected to be up about 28% in the first half of 2025 even as total sales lag, and Stellantis National Dealer Council chair Michael Bettenhausen says dealers are convinced the brand is on its way back to past volumes. Kuniskis declines to set sales targets but wants a full-size share 'that starts with a two' — between 20% and 29.9% — by the end of the plan, from roughly 17% in 2024, and insists share-chasing is vanity next to plant utilization and profit.

12,000 Hemi orders on the first day dealers could order them; retail sales tracking up ~28% in H1 2025, per Kuniskis; target 20%+ full-size share.

The Ram 1500 redesign changed everything at once instead of staging changes on a cadence, and its production problems outlasted a year on the market.

Full-size pickups are the profit pool Ram cannot lose: 'The market share is hugely important,' says Edmunds' Joseph Yoon.

Truck buyers carry generational loyalty and act as brand ambassadors, so dealer trust and community standing matter as much as the product.

Years of contentious dealer relations over incentives, products and price increases had to be repaired before the brand could sell its way back.

Kuniskis: 'You don't want to chase share just for the sake of chasing share' — full plants and profit are the real targets.

When loyal buyers are the asset, revival starts by un-cancelling what they loved and rebuilding dealer trust — new product can wait its turn.

The plan runs through 2026, with further announcements possible — Kuniskis floats a passenger van and a midsize pickup expected in 2027. The Ram 1500 extended-range hybrid reaches the market in early 2026 with up to 690 miles of range, the longest the brand has offered in a light-duty truck; EREV production begins in 2025 but consumer sales timing is undisclosed, as is the all-electric pickup's. Kuniskis describes himself as 'flying without a parachute' and is 'really bullish on the year... that's just using traditional tactics. We haven't gotten to the new stuff yet.'