The Dodge Durango’s HEMI V8 Refuses To Die

If there’s one thing that Dodge, and the rest of the Chrysler, Jeep, and Ram family, is good at, it’s building the same thing for a very long time. Sometimes, like the Dodge Journey, it’s about keeping a low-cost model available long after it’s no longer competitive. This time, though, it’s something that brand fans will love. A new report from Mopar Insiders says that Dodge is making a massive turnaround in the engine bay of the Durango.

Instead of dropping the HEMI after this year, the 5.7-liter V8 engine is rumored to be coming back for at least another year as the brand does its best to keep its muscle-head enthusiasts happy for as long as it can.

HEMI Has Quickly Vanished From The Stellantis World

Ever-tightening emissions and fuel economy rules, along with a dated design, have been wreaking havoc on the Stellantis HEMI V8 in the last few years. It’s gone from the Charger/Challenger/300, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Ram 1500, and just about everywhere else you might find it.

Dodge first said that the engine would be dropped from the Durango SUV after the end of 2024. To say goodbye, the company built some special editions like the Durango SRT 392 AlcHemi.

Then, at the end of 2024, Dodge announced it would keep building HEMI Durangos for a while longer. Both the 5.7-liter, making 360 horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque, and the 6.2-liter supercharged Hellcat engine making 710 hp and 645 lb-ft of torque. The plan was for them to stick around into the 2025 calendar year, or at least part of it.

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Now, Mopar Insiders reports the HEMI will stick around even longer. The site’s sources say that Dodge has decided to extend the availability of the 5.7-liter Durango R/T into model year 2026. It might be bad news if you’re running the company’s CAFE compliance department, but it will be good news for buyers who would otherwise be stuck with the 295 hp and 260 lb-ft of the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6.

It’s good for buyers who want more power, and great for buyers who want to tow with their SUVs. The Durango R/T is the king of the midsized towing segment, capable of up to 8,700 pounds – 2,500 pounds more than the V6 is capable of.

Demand For The HEMI V8 Will Continue To Be Strong

At this rate, Dodge could keep prolonging the end of the HEMI forever, but we’re not expecting it to get another stay of execution. That’s because Dodge is planning to finally replace the Durango, which is largely the same as when it was introduced in 2011. The new SUV is expected with gas and electric power, sometime in 2026 as the 2027 Dodge Durango.

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There is, of course, one other reason we don’t think the V8 will stick around forever. Stellantis doesn’t build them anymore. The 5.7-liter HEMI V8 was built at the Saltillo engine factory in Mexico. In documents updated in June 2024, Stellantis listed the 6.4-liter HEMI used in the Ram HD trucks as being built at that plant, and the 3.0-liter Hurricane turbocharged straight-six is built there, but there is no mention of the 5.7. The same goes for the automaker’s list of factories, including vehicle models, engines, and transmissions, which was last updated in January 2025. That strongly suggests Stellantis is just using up engines that it built months ago.

Source: Mopar Insiders