QOTD: Is The V8 Still Very Much Alive?

by Tim Healey

Published: May 28th, 2025

It constantly seems like the V8 might be dying. Stellantis is slowly killing the Hemi, though like a horror-movie villain, it never quite dies. Electrification and technological advances involving internal-combustion engines with fewer cylinders are both factors that make us think the V8 will be relegated to only niche sports cars and a few trucks. Yet GM made news this morning that has us pausing.

The General is going to drop almost $1 billion into a production line at its Buffalo-area plant. This line will built a sixth-gen V8 that will replace the current 5.3- and 6.2-liter engines.

But if you read Chris's story, which you should, you'd already know that. You'd also already know that GM promises improved fuel economy and more power.

Now I am thinking -- is the V8 not quite dead? Will improved tech keep these motors around, with fuel-economy that's more respectable? Or is this just GM recognizing that certain large SUVs and trucks still need big power, and electrification isn't yet the answer for those vehicles?

You know what to do -- sound off below.

[Image: General Motors]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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2 of 102 comments

NJRide on May 30, 2025

I was glad to see GM make this investment, particularly after foolishly discontinuing the V6s in their full size crossovers. The 3.6 is an excellent engine.

You can get plenty of power out of a 4 but the durability and feel is not the same and the mileage is not that much better.

And please can we dump the 3 cylinders and put a non-lawnmower engine in the Equinox.

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Lou_BC on May 31, 2025

If one considers GM's problematic V8's, alive sort of... well? No.

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