'Everybody Wanted to Keep the Hemi' Except Stellantis Ex-CEO Tavares, Sources Say

Stellantis insiders are saying that Tavares was the key driver of the Hemi V-8's death in its passenger cars.

Photo by: Stellantis

By: Peter Holderith

Dec 10, 2024 at 1:15pm ET

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Carlos Tavares is gone as Stellantis' CEO, and in the aftermath of his resignation, a number of company insiders have come forward to provide an autopsy on his time as chief executive. It's not pretty, but one part of the saga is particularly jarring. “Everybody wanted to keep [Hemi],” a source told CNBC. Tavares was allegedly the driver to kill it.

The death of the Hemi V-8 being almost solely down to Tavares, if true, speaks to these broader management troubles. The CNBC report indicates there was a disconnect between whether Stellantis was a European conglomerate or an American one, with the CEO treating it more as the former. As a result, there was a related push to clean up Stellantis' emissions, which meant killing the Hemi V-8 and moving toward rapidly towards electrification. The latter is happening very slowly stateside despite Tavares' push.

Photo by: Stellantis

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With the CEO out, there are a lot of questions concerning the automaker's next steps. A new leader is expected to be named within the first half of next year, but there are already signs that Stellantis is looking to sure up its North American operations. It just rehired former Dodge and Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis to lead the latter truck brand. Kuniskis was known as a champion of the Hemi V-8 and the father of the automaker's Hellcat line of high performance cars. His return to the automaker after just a few months of retirement could speak to a broader change in culture following Tavares' exit.

So will the Hemi come back? Nothing is set in stone, but keep in mind that the company still offers Hemi V-8s as crate engines, still sells the Durango Hellcat, and still equips its larger full-sized trucks with V-8s. If I had to bet, I would say a V-8 version of the new Charger is on the way after the electric and inline-six powered versions arrive at dealers. Let's hope I'm right.