Ram announced that the supercharged Hellcat V8-powered 1500 TRX would be ending production this year. But the company also made it clear that the TRX wasn’t completely dead, with some successor coming sometime in the future. It seems that it will be coming sooner than expected, and it will be packing six-cylinder power; probably from the “Hurricane” twin-turbo straight-six.
The clear evidence comes with the spy photographer video at the top. It clearly captures the exhaust note of the truck, and it’s most obviously not a rumbly V8. It sounds much more like something with six cylinders. The 3.6-liter V6 isn’t nearly powerful enough for the TRX, so that leaves the Hurricane engine found in the Wagoneer line, as well as in crate engine variety. The strongest of these is the Cat 3 crate engine with 550 horsepower and 531 pound-feet of torque.
That’s solid power, and our experiences with the Wagoneers have shown it to be a smooth and responsive engine, but it’s still a far cry from the 702 horsepower of the Hellcat V8, so we’re left wondering if the Ram is going to get a special version. When the Hurricane crate engines were announced, a 1,000-horsepower race-spec engine was hinted at, so it’s possible to get more out of these engines. The question is how much of that 1,000 horsepower can get past emissions testing.
While we’re speculating, we could possibly see two powertrain options to match the Ford F-150 Raptor. The 550-horsepower version could match the regular Raptor, and the higher-output version could take on the Raptor R. But again, that’s quite speculative.
Besides the engine, the light camouflage at the front and rear of this TRX suggests that there will be some subtle appearance changes. We can’t make out much, but it does clearly have a new set of taillights.
Since the changes to the TRX seem mostly limited to the light exterior changes and the powertrain underneath, we wouldn’t be surprised if the new version launches sometime next year.
