How important is the return of the Hemi for Ram? The truck company just posted its best first quarter for half-ton trucks since 2023. The Ram 1500 has just passed a serious competitor and is closing in on Chevy in the battle to become the second-most popular truck in America. Does The Hemi Get All The Credit? Ram When Ram dropped the Hemi V8 in favor of a pair of inline-sixes, buyers were mad. Sales didn't plummet, but buyers were vocal. When Tim Kuniskis returned to the iron throne his old job as head of the brand, one of his first moves was to bring it back. It didn't matter that it was less powerful, less efficient, and not as quick. The Hemi sounds better. And to be blunt, Ram buyers still want naturally aspirated V8 grunt."We heard loud and clear from consumers: there is no replacement for the iconic Hemi V8."-Ram CEO Tim KuniskisNow, Ram 1500 sales are up 27% over Q1 2025, the highest they've been since 2023. Ram sold 59,828 half-ton trucks, along with 38,597 HD trucks for a total of 98,425. With light-duty and heavy-duty trucks combined, Ram sales finished 25% higher than a year ago, showing that all the trucks are faring well. Stellantis North America Meanwhile, all is not lost at Chevrolet, but surely there are some nervous executives. Chevy sold 7.9% more Silverado 1500s for a total of 84,401, but the gap is closer than it has been in a long time. Chevy's HD truck sales were down 11.4% to 41,738; put them together, and Chevy's overall Silverado sales slipped for the period, landing at 126,139 units total. Look at the bigger picture, though, and General Motors might not care at all about Ram. GM also has the GMC Sierra, and that truck sold 51,857 units in Q1. Overall, GMC moved 74,319 trucks when you add in the HD models. Combined, GM's trucks even outsell the Ford F-Series. But Chevrolet and GMC are still separate manufacturers within the GM family, so they're ranked individually. As such, Ram pulled ahead of GMC to become the third-highest selling light-duty pickup. And if Ram's growth trend continues, second place could happen by the end of the year. Don't Ever Leave Out Ford FordThe 800-pound truck gorilla for the last 49 years is and will remain Ford. Despite a shortage of trucks caused by a fire at an aluminum plant last year cutting sales by 16%, Ford still moved 157,841 F-Series trucks and speaking to CarBuzz, a Ford representative said the losses will be made up later this year.Unfortunately, Ford is the only company that sells light and heavy-duty trucks that doesn't break out its sales by type. That means we don't know specifically how well the F-150 is doing compared to the Silverado 1500 or Ram 1500. Ford lumps all F-Series sales together. Toyota remains a distant fifth. The brand moved 34,616 Tundra pickups in the first quarter, down 2.6% from a year ago. At least its Tacoma continues to crush all other midsize trucks, and nearly beats even Chevrolet's half-ton sales to boot.Ram won't say how many of its newly minted sales are the result of the V8's return, but we can't imagine it's insignificant. Ram says it got 10,000 orders in the first 24 hours after the announcement, and it was scrambling to boost production to try and meet massive demand. That, along with the return of the supercharged TRX for model year 2027, could give Ram some much-needed momentum.The wildcard in this match up will be Chevy's new truck, which is coming later this year. Its arrival could stall Silverado sales as buyers hold off until the new model reaches dealerships. That could give Ram an extra push to take second place for the first time in years. Or the opposite might happen: a rush of sales to get the familiar outgoing generation before the new pickup – and it's lineup of new engines – take over Chevy showrooms.