Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis made it clear when he returned to the brand this summer that big things were coming. Bringing back the Hemi V8 was first on the docket, and at the same time, Ram announced it’ll race in NASCAR come 2026. We’ve also known for a while now that the TRX is storming back into production, and I always just assumed it would feature the same supercharged Hellcat V8 as before, maybe with a few tweaks for more power. But Ram just teased a performance model that’s debuting on New Year’s Day with what I’m almost positive is a turbo spooling in the background.
Peep the video here real quick so we can go on speculating:
Desert winds don’t whisper… they roar. Get ready. 01-01-26
That’s certainly not a supercharger whine. And although I guess it could be some random, unrelated sound effect, it’s too eerily similar to a turbocharger spinning at high RPM for me to buy that. So exactly what is Ram up to here?
Precious few context clues exist for us to sort through. The teaser caption reads, “Desert winds don’t whisper… they roar. Get ready. 01-01-26.” Meanwhile, the words “Power Will Be Reborn” appear on-screen. I’m not sure anyone could reach a 100% solid conclusion on what’s happening here with only those hints.
Ram has never equipped any Hemi V8 with a turbocharger in a factory application before. Of course, the RHO desert truck runs a twin-turbo inline-six, but if Ram revives the TRX with anything less than a boosted V8, then I’ll shave every hair on my body. Nobody wants to see that.
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