In recent weeks, Stellantis seemed to have sent a pretty clear message to fans of American performance cars: Dodge’s future would hinge on the new Hurricane six-cylinder engine. The automaker has just push its 3.0-liter twin-turbo engine to 600 ch in the Charger Super Bee, before introducing the eBoost Air experimental technology designed to provide him with an even more immediate response.
And yet, at the same time, a completely different story is beginning to circulate in the United States. According to several unofficial American sources, Stellantis may be working on an all-new V8 engine, rather than simply bringing back the current HEMI engines.
Strange goings-on at Stellantis plants
Two factors currently support this hypothesis. The first concerns the Windsor plant in Canada, where the new Dodge Charger is assembled. Its temporary closure could naturally be explained by an inventory adjustment. But one detail is intriguing: while some employees are reportedly being sent home, tooling specialists and technical staff are said to be staying on site.
Some American observers believe this could indicate that Stellantis is taking advantage of the production halt to modify certain production equipment. This hypothesis takes on added significance given that the Charger’s STLA Large platform was specifically designed to accommodate various powertrains, including longitudinally mounted internal combustion engines. However, we must remain extremely cautious: no official document currently confirms that these modifications involve a V8. But a second piece of information is fueling the rumor.
A mysterious engine might be coming to Trenton
The American channel TK’s Garage claims to have obtained information from the Trenton North engine plant in Michigan. According to its source, a large section of the plant was recently cleared to make way for a new production line. The author claims to have seen before-and-after photographs that he cannot publish and explains that he has received similar information from five different people. According to him, this is not a new production line intended for the Hurricane.
His theory? Stellantis might be preparing the Trenton plant to produce a new V8 currently under development. It wouldn’t necessarily involve simply bringing a 5.7L or 6.4L HEMI back into production, but could potentially be a new generation of engine.
A new 5.2-liter V8 engine?
One displacement figure keeps coming up in these rumors: 5.2 liters. The engine in question is said to feature a much more modern design than that of the traditional pushrod HEMI engines, notably with a dual overhead camshaft (DOHC) configuration. Some speculation in the U.S. even goes so far as to suggest twin-turbocharging.
This raises the possibility that, eventually, a new engine could be developed to top the Hurricane lineup and serve as the spiritual successor to the spectacular Hellcat. At the Windsor plant, it is precisely this scenario involving a new, modern V8 engine that is being prioritized: integrating it would require modifications to the assembly lines, the clearance around the engine cradle, and the cooling systems.
So the six-cylinder won't completely replace the V8 after all?
That’s what would make Stellantis’ strategy particularly interesting. The group has just demonstrated that its Hurricane can reach 600 ch, surpass some of the performance figures of the older V8 Chargers, and could improve even further thanks to eBoost Air.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean the V8 has to disappear. A large portion of the American customer base swears by the V8 engine. The Hurricane 6-cylinder could form the core of the lineup, while a new, much more exclusive V8 would become the «halo» engine for future Dodge, SRT, RAM, and Jeep models…
For now, all of this remains a rumor, and Stellantis has not confirmed the 5.2-liter V8, its production in Trenton, or its inclusion in the Charger. But between the reported activity in Windsor, what’s been observed in Trenton, and several U.S. sources claiming to have heard about a new V8, the signs are starting to pile up. And strangely enough, Maserati’s chief engineer is talking more and more about it the return of a V8 engine him, too…
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It sounds just like when the Pure-Tech was unveiled—and we all know how that turned out. Stellantis = a total flop.
TK Garage is far from being a highly reliable source of information.
I’ve seen several YouTube channels talking about this over the past few days. Strategically, it would make sense for Stellantis. Because even though the GME 6-cylinder is high-performing, I can see Americans still criticizing that engine. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to offer a new V8 for the next 10 years. And that brings me back to Maserati: Ferrari and Lamborghini offer V6s, V8s, and V12s… It wouldn’t be a bad move for Maserati to add a new V8 option to its lineup, even if the Nettuno 6-cylinder is powerful. That’s the long-term strategy.
I had, in fact, recently read somewhere—motor1.com, I think—that there was a rumor circulating about the return of the V8 engine at Maserati.
Yes, but I have a hard time imagining just adding two cylinders to the Nettuno to make a V8 exclusively for Maserati. Financially, Maserati is in the red, so this would be yet another major financial risk. So, a new V8 sourced from elsewhere, then «optimized» by Maserati and assembled in Termoli… why not?.