Ram
Is it possible for a vehicle that was discontinued less than two years ago to already be known as a classic? Maybe not in the literal sense, but the 2024 discontinuation of the Ram 1500 TRX pickup has left a gaping hole in Ram's enthusiast pickup lineup — with used models naturally being highly sought after on the used market. There are many reasons why the TRX was such a big deal for fans of Mopar performance and off-road trucks alike, but the biggest reason was the engine under the hood.
The 2021 to 2024 Ram TRX was powered by the same 6.2-liter supercharged HEMI V8 that made the Dodge Challenger and Dodge Charger Hellcat into modern muscle car legends. In the Ram TRX, the engine made 702 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque, with the slight discrepancy in horsepower compared to the Dodge cars explained by the Ram's longer exhaust system.
Rather than sending power to the rear wheels, like the Challenger and Charger, the TRX was a serious, off-road capable pickup with standard four-wheel-drive and lots of trail and desert-ready upgrades. Despite the Ram TRX's massive size and weight, the Hellcat engine elevated the TRX to a new level of pickup truck performance — at least by internal combustion standards — with 0-60 times under four seconds and quarter-mile ETs in the low twelve-second range.
The Ram TRX was an off-road Hellcat
Ram
Back in 2020, combining the Ram 1500 pickup with the Hellcat engine (even if it had to drop the Hellcat branding) was one of those enthusiast combos that just made sense. Stellantis already had the engine. The popular Ram 1500 existed. The Ford Raptor was hot. The TRX, which arrived for the '21 model year, was expensive, brash, and powerful. In fact, the truck ended up being such a big deal that Ford launched the F-150 Raptor R in response, which added a supercharged V8 that went above and beyond the Raptor's standard twin-turbocharged V6.
Unlike the Challenger and Charger passenger cars, though, Ram never got around to building higher-horsepower variants of the TRX like Dodge did with the various Hellcat Redeye and SRT Demons that followed the Hellcat's initial release. Ram did bring out a limited-run "Final Edition" for 2024 to mark the end of TRX production, but its changes were all cosmetic, without any bumps to horsepower or torque.
Aftermarket tuners, though, have shown that the Ram TRX has impressive horsepower potential. Hennessey, for example, rolled out a $375,000 TRX-based monster called the Mammoth 1,000 that made 1,012 hp and 969 lb-ft of torque. Or if you favor DIY performance upgrades for the TRX, simple improvements like supercharger pulley kits and ECM tuning can offer big gains without massive amounts of work or expense.
The TRX story isn't over
Ram
Fortunately for TRX fans, it appears the demise of this off-road muscle truck may end up being short-lived. Ram has been making a big deal about a return to its roots in recent months, bringing the 5.7-liter HEMI back to the Ram 1500 and returning to NASCAR Truck Series competition as well. And while there has yet to be an official announcement from Ram, company spokespeople have confirmed that the TRX is coming back, perhaps as soon as the 2026 model year.
For now, the details of this new TRX are unclear, but the supercharged 6.2-liter HEMI is likely to return as the powerplant. But, with the pent-up demand and overall hype about the TRX's return, a power bump from the previous 702-horsepower figure seems likely. Not only would this outdo the previous TRX, it would be a direct shot at Ford's competing Raptor R. In any case, even though the TRX only debuted five years ago, fans' enthusiasm about the pickup and its Hellcat-sourced HEMI V8 has already secured the TRX's status as a contemporary classic.
