The new Ram Rumble Bee muscle truck has 777 horsepower and a top speed of 170 mph.

Detroit — Stellantis plans to introduce a lineup of so-called “muscle trucks” under the Ram brand, despite soaring gasoline prices in the United States due to the Iran war.

The automaker announced Wednesday that the Rumblebee pickup truck will feature a V-8 engine, special parts and design, and a wide range of performance specifications.

Powered by a 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V-8 engine, the top-of-the-line SRT Hellcat model has 777 horsepower, a target top speed of 170 mph, and other metrics comparable to some sports cars.

“This is totally ‘Hold Your Beer,’ watch this and chip in right away,” Ram boss Tim Kuniskis said in front of the truck he passed during a media event at the company’s Chelsea Proving Grounds in Michigan. “Welcome to the era of muscle trucks.”

With the national average gas price at $4.56, Kunikis said he believes it’s a “pivotal” time to launch the truck as full-size pickups expand into the luxury and off-road vehicle segments. He also said traditional muscle car offerings are in short supply as Stellantis and other automakers focus on fully electric vehicles.

“We’ve been pursuing electrification, but that trend has changed, and this trend will change as well,” he told reporters after the truck’s unveiling. “I’d like to believe that by the time this hits showroom floors, gas prices will be back to where they were.”

Kuniskis also noted that while the company’s top-performing models typically sell a small percentage of sales, they typically have “three times the margin of the average car” and serve as a halo product that draws attention to the brand.

“It’s still a great, great business, but it’s the ultimate halo effect to sell other businesses,” he said.

Halo vehicles are often iconic products with unique designs and high-performance parts. Often used to draw attention to a car’s nameplate or brand.

Kunikis declined to disclose sales forecasts, but said the investment in the new truck should be recouped “easily.” The new truck shares many parts with the brand’s current truck and has added certain performance parts.

Stellantis has not disclosed pricing for the trucks, which are expected to arrive at U.S. dealers this fall. Kuniskis compared the price of the “entry-level” 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 muscle truck to the “well-equipped” current Big Horn model, which costs more than $60,000, and said the SRT model could become a new halo alongside the $100,000 TRX off-road performance truck.

The new muscle truck is a quad-cab with a rear door that is smaller than most full-size pickup trucks sold in the U.S. and will be built at Stellantis’ plant in Saltillo, Mexico.

The lineup will launch with a 5.7-liter Hemi V8 model later this year, followed by the Rumble Bee 392 and Rumble Bee SRT in the first half of 2027.

Stephanie Brinley, an auto analyst at S&P Global, said she doesn’t think Ram will sell a lot of muscle trucks, but thinks it should be able to draw attention to the brand, especially in terms of retaining current customers.

“The SRT is a nice counterpoint to the off-road version, but again, it won’t be in mass production,” she said. “The combination of having it all together can bring excitement to a brand.”

Mr. Kuniskis also oversees the company’s other U.S.-focused brands and is well known for using high-performance models as a marketing tool to get the brand’s attention, such as when he introduced the Hellcat model to Dodge.

High-performance trucks are not new to the automotive industry, but they have often been short-lived. Ram was previously part of Dodge, which owns off-road performance trucks like the Rebel and TRX. About 20 years ago, the company also offered the Rumble Bee model and pickup, which shared a V-10 engine with the Dodge Viper, the company’s sports car at the time.

“There’s no market research to say that what we’re doing is a good thing. It’s not even a safe bet. … It’s been done before, but it’s never worked,” Kunikis said during the event. “But we think the strategy the last time it was done was not correct.”

The Muscle Truck lineup was announced on the eve of Stellantis’ first investor day under CEO Antonio Filosa. It’s also Kuniskis’ first investor day since returning to the automaker last year after a seven-month “retirement.”

Stellantis’ investor day will focus on key brands by region, including Jeep and Ram in the U.S. and Fiat and Peugeot in Europe, and will detail how management plans to cut costs and explain how the company aims to return to profitability after a net loss of 22.3 billion euros ($26.3 billion) last year.

Filosa has been touting the return of Ram’s Hemi V8 engine, which was canceled under former CEO Carlos Tavares, as a positive catalyst for investors despite rising U.S. gas prices.

Kuniskis said Hemi Island’s production continues to increase, but demand still exceeds supply.

“The situation is accelerating. We are not yet where we need to be,” he said, adding that the situation was “much better” than it was at the beginning of the year.