It doesn’t feel much like a Christmas present, when RAM Trucks Australia and New Zealand builds the last HEMI V8 and confirms a turbocharged six-cylinder successor.
The final RAM 1500 pick-up powered by the iconic HEMI V8 has rolled off the Australian production line ahead of the switch to six-cylinder power, arriving next year.
Limited numbers of the V8 remains in showrooms before an updated model arrives in the first half of 2025.
The RAM 1500 Limited – finished in Granite Crystal paint – is the 28,495th HEMI V8 across both the previous DS Series and current DT Series to be remanufactured from left-hand-drive to right-hand drive by RAM Trucks Australia and New Zealand.
More than 100 workers gathered to celebrate the final RAM 1500 V8, which was completed last Friday (6 December 2024) on the assembly line in Melbourne.
Today, RAM Trucks Australia and New Zealand employs more than 250 people across its factory and engineering workforces – and more than 2000 people have worked in the facility since 2015.
“It’s time to bid farewell to the iconic HEMI V8,” said Todd Groves, General Sales Manager for RAM Trucks NZ. “The HEMI V8 set the standard for high-performance trucks and played a key role in establishing RAM Trucks as a success story in the Australasian market. As we say goodbye to this legendary engine, we look ahead with excitement to its successor – a new-generation turbocharged six-cylinder petrol engine set to arrive in the first half of 2025.”
“Availability of these exceptional trucks is now very limited, so we encourage those still interested in grabbing a piece of iconic RAM Trucks history, to move fast as the last of the V8’s will not last long!”.
More information on the arrival times and specification of the new-generation RAM Trucks models will be shared early in 2025.
RAM Trucks Australia and New Zealand has been remanufacturing US pick-ups from left-hand-drive to right-hand-drive since December 2015 – including the RAM 1500 HEMI V8 since June 2018 – and is the only RAM distributor in Australia and New Zealand with full factory backing.
The vehicles arrive from the US in their original left-hand-drive format and are remanufactured to right-hand-drive on the assembly line in Melbourne, Australia before being transported to dealers in Australia and New Zealand.
More than 400 locally-engineered parts – manufactured to factory quality and safety standards – are fitted to each vehicle to complete the transformation to right-hand-drive.
From the start of the production line to the finish, it takes approximately 14 hours for more than 200 workers to complete the remanufacturing process of each vehicle.
RAM Trucks Australia began re-manufacturing left-hand drive heavy duty models into right-hand drive vehicles in late 2015, before they went on sale in early 2016 in New Zealand and Australia. The volume selling 1500 light duty model came on stream in July 2018.
