Ram’s Revived Pickup Is Proving What Fans Really Want from Their Trucks

Ram made waves in the truck world when it dropped the Hemi from its 1500 lineup back in 2024, as it amounted to a pretty significant disregard for the Dodge brand’s lengthy history of V8 power.

Of course, when Tim Kuniskis retook the helm, it wasn’t long before the ship righted itself again. Ram worked overtime to reengineer the truck for the 5.7-liter block to give buyers what they wanted.

Stellantis

Now, even though the Hurricane inline-six is a more powerful and more efficient alternative, the decision is clearly paying off. When most rivals saw a decline in their sales over the course of Q1, Ram was among the few brands to post a positive improvement.

A roaring start to the year

And not just a slight bump, either. Compared to last year, Ram’s trucks are up 25 percent, now at 98,425 versus 78,848 deliveries for Q1. 

Moreover, it’s a performance that’s been fueled by the Ram 1500. While Ram’s heavy duty pickups posted a 21 percent improvement at 38,597 sales versus 31,781 in Q1 of 2025, the light duty model demonstrated even more growth.

Stellantis

Throughout Q1 this year, 1500 sales are up to 59,828, which represents a 27 percent climb compared to 2025’s count of 47,067 vehicles over the same period. That also makes it the best Q1 total for the brand since 2023.

As such, while Ram didn’t specifically cite Hemi figures as part of the sales report, it’s pretty clear that the block played a role in the boosted numbers. That was the last time the brand’s lineup featured the vaunted V8.

Besides, Kuniskis specifically reintroduced the engine in an appeal to brand loyalists.

Stellantis

As part of the Hemi announcement last year, he even went as far as to state that “Everyone makes mistakes, but how you handle it defines you. Ram screwed up when we dropped the HEMI — we own it and we fixed it.”

Ram’s exceptional climb  

In any event, Ram’s sales are made all the more impressive when you consider them in the context of rival full-size trucks. For one, Toyota’s numbers aren’t even comparable, as the automaker has sold just 34,616 Tundras for the year so far. 

Stellantis

Moreover, the GMC Sierra now trails the Ram 1500 with 51,857 deliveries throughout Q1. In fact, the heavy-duty models are down to 22,462, a 7.9 decrease from the year before.

But let’s not forget the heavyweights in Chevrolet and Ford. While their sales may be on a completely different order of magnitude, it’s not like they’re recording the same kind of positive numbers as the Ram brand. 

Even with the half-ton Silverado up by nearly eight percent, growth for the truck was pretty much stagnant. Worse still for the Blue Oval, F-Series sales were down by 16 percent overall, (though it’s worth noting that they’re not broken out by type). 

As both Chevy and Ford have continued to offer V8s in their pickups, Ram’s Hemi about-face seems to be all the more telling. If nothing else, there does seem to have been more than a few holdouts.

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