500+HP Hurricane I-6 Engine Coming to Jeep, Ram, Dodge

With all the focus on the future of electric vehicles, less attention is given to what companies plan to offer in the meantime during the great transition over the next couple of decades. Some automakers have lineups that can easily adapt to the change, relatively speaking. But others, like Jeep, Chrysler, and Dodge, have aging internal-combustion engine lineups that need updates yesterday, and can't wait for the EV overhaul. That's why Stellantis has thrown some money into an all-new 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six family of engines it's calling the Hurricane.

Stellantis has committed to making half of its vehicles battery-electric by 2030, but back in 2019, the company also quickly realized it would need stopgap solutions for the other 50 percent of its portfolio—and its current ICE technology just wouldn't cut it. So a small team of engineers in Auburn Hills, Mich. went to work that year on an all-new, clean-sheet engine, and the Hurricane is the impressive result.

The Hurricane will be a family of new twin-turbo, 3.0-liter I-6 engines, with standard output ("SO") and high-output ("HO") versions ready to go for production. In fact, the first production engine rolled off the line in November of 2021—something a leaked document gave us a preview of around that time, although at that point we thought it might be called the "Tornado" (a name which may still eventually be used).

The standard output Hurricane, Stellantis promises, will offer "more than 400 horsepower and more than 450 lb-ft of torque," at a max of 5,800 rpm. The high output variant will offer "more than 500 HP and more than 475 lb-ft of torque" at up to 6,100 rpm in their initial configurations. Those are Hemi power figures, so fans of the current V-8 may start to sweat. Especially when considering the availability to offer hybrid variants, which are planned, though the engine will not launch with a hybrid configuration. Engineers say the new engines maintain at least 90 percent of peak torque from 2,350 rpm all the way to redline.

"As Stellantis aims to become the U.S. leader in electrification, with a 50-percent battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales mix by 2030, internal combustion engines will play a key role in our portfolio for years to come and we owe it to our customers and the environment to provide the cleanest, most-efficient propulsion possible," said Micky Bly, Stellantis Head of Propulsion Systems. "The Hurricane twin-turbo is a no-compromise engine that delivers better fuel economy and an important reduction in greenhouse gases without asking our customers to give up performance."

Stellantis designed the Hurricane engine family to meet all current North American emissions requirements, and additionally future-proofed the line with provisions for more stringent standards in the future. For example, company engineers say there is room for a particulate filter, but it will not be equipped unless it is required.

North America will be the primary market for the engine, with some exports to other global markets in specific model lineups. Stellantis claims the SO puts out 15 percent less CO2 than larger displacement engines within the company portfolio, and the HO produces 13 percent less. The new engines should help the company's brands stay on target for their Carbon Net Zero by 2038 initiative.

If the Hurricane name in this context seems familiar to you, the engineers admit they were a more than a little inspired by the old Willys "Hurricane" I-4 engine that was put to good work in the CJ-3, -5 and -6, claiming its 30 HP per liter specific output was "game-changing" at the time. That said, 30 HP per liter can't put a candle to the new Hurricane's 133+ HP per liter—and that's just the SO version.

The new Hurricane is all-new though beyond the name, though, with Stellantis engineers employing cutting-edge technology to achieve the engine's ridiculous horsepower-per-liter figures in such a tight package. The block is lightweight cast aluminum, but plasma transfer wire arc (PTWA) technology was employed to spray vaporized steel alloy onto each cylinder wall—something we've seen previously on relatively exotic production engines like Ford's dearly departed Voodoo V-8.

The result is a strong coating with an almost perfect metal-on-metal bond, with 10 times the wear resistance of traditional coatings that's also 50 percent thinner. Stellantis claims this also saves 3 pounds per engine block compared to a traditional iron liner. Bly says the new spray liner still had a "mirror finish" after durability testing, like nothing he'd ever seen before.

The Hurricane is a DOHC design, with direct injection, and individual cooling systems for the turbos, separate from the engine cooling circuit. There's a structural oil pan with a pump that can circulate oil during extreme driving conditions. As a unit, the SO weighs in at 430 pounds, and the HO comes in at 441 pounds, both fully dressed—lighter than the company's 5.7-liter Hemi V-8.

Another key efficiency of the new Hurricane engine family, beyond its packaging, is the number of shared components between the standard and high-output variants, which share 96 common parts. However, the turbochargers are unique to each variant. The SO achieves a peak boost of 22 PSI, and the HO 26 PSI.

The new engine is already production-ready, with test units already going through the Saltillo North engine plant in Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, Mexico, which is where the spray-bore technology is implemented. The plant has the capacity to produce up to around 250,000 new Hurricane engines per year, with full production beginning in the next few months.

The HO variant will require premium gas, and the SO variant will run on regular, but offer more power with premium fuel, which is recommended.

No specific vehicles were announced during a Stellantis presentation of the new engines, with individual brand announcements to be made about vehicles featuring the new Hurricane engine to come soon. We do know that company's new STLA Large and STLA Frame vehicle platforms, which will sit under future D-segment vehicles and pickups respectively, are confirmed to use the Hurricane engine family. That likely means Ram trucks and Dodge and Jeep SUVs, so we'll see. SUVs and crossovers are the hot commodity these days, and surely an important (and profitable) part of the future Stellantis product mix, so it's no surprise this all-new engine line should find a home in these products.