Is Chrysler going to move away from Hemi to rebuild its image?

It seems the new trend of brands identifying with ecology and a gleamingly emission-free world has more to do with fashion than anything else. Downsizing, hybrid engines, the botch job of electric cars, and so on. Now if you’re not green, you’re not trendy, so it’s time for Chrysler to get up, flip the table over and do something about its image.

So the first step Chrysler would have to take is to gradually move away from the Hemi name, which for more than 40 years has meant performance, acceleration and speed. The Hemi V8s that were once the crème de la crème of Chrysler will gradually disappear and will even have the Hemi name taken away (the 5.7 will simply be a V8 5.7).

The new star will be the V6 Pentastar engines, a new, more efficient and refined generation of engines for upcoming models, which will gradually take the place of the best V8 engines that Americans have ever designed.

For now, the Hemi will remain present in the Jeep, the Ram pick-ups and the Challenger, although nobody knows exactly for how much longer.

Via | Autoblog Green