Stellantis to Produce High-Performance Pickup in Saltillo

Stellantis is set to re-enter the “Street Trucks” market—that is, pickup trucks with the performance of “muscle cars”—with the launch of the Ram 1500 Rumble Bee, which will be produced at the Saltillo assembly plant and hit the market by the end of the year.

The 2027 Ram 1500 Rumble Bee lineup consists of three variants, each with a different engine: the 5.7-liter Hemi V8, the 6.4-liter “392” Hemi, or the top-of-the-line supercharged 6.2-liter “Hellcat” Hemi, with 777 horsepower (hp).

The entry-level version is the 2027 Ram 1500 Rumble Bee with a 345-cubic-inch (5.7-liter) Hemi V8 engine, which delivers 395 hp at 5,600 rpm and 410 lb-ft of torque at 3,950 rpm.

The top of the line, the Rumble Bee SRT, accelerates from 0 to 60 miles per hour (96.6 km/h) in under 4 seconds and reaches a target top speed of 273 kilometers per hour, setting a record as the most powerful, fastest, and quickest production V8 pickup in history.

Engineering at the Service of Power

The engine, designated with the code name Eagle, utilizes the legendary formula used in classic muscle cars featuring an in-block camshaft and pushrod configuration, but incorporates modern hardware such as variable valve timing, operated by an oil control valve that lubricates the gear and a phase variator to adjust camshaft timing.

The aluminum cylinder head features two valves per cylinder and draws air from an active intake manifold system with a short-port valve to optimize torque and power.

At low engine speeds, the valve closes, resulting in better low-end torque by diverting air to the longer ports. At high engine speeds, the valve opens, diverting incoming air toward the center of the intake manifold. The shorter ports result in increased power and an optimized power band.

A black-painted cast-iron block houses a crankshaft that drives the pistons at a 90-degree angle, with a firing order of 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2.

The engine’s compression ratio reaches 9.5:1 in each cylinder, where two spark plugs ensure proper combustion. The Multi-Displacement System (MDS) can deactivate cylinders 4, 3, 5, and 2 during light-load driving to save fuel.

Power is transmitted through a Ram 8-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission (8HP75), with both automatic and manual shifting capabilities via aluminum paddles on the steering wheel or the G/T-style shift lever on the console.

The drivetrain design optimizes power delivery and fuel efficiency based on the load and the driver’s “right-foot weight.”
All Rumble Bees feature permanent active all-wheel drive, thanks to a BorgWarner 48-11 transfer case with variable torque distribution in 4×4 mode.
Aware of the Rumble Bee’s pure nature, the designers and engineers also integrated a button next to the console shifter that disengages the front axle to enable rear-wheel drive only.