Stellantis-UAW Deal Will Bring Another Midsize Truck to the Market
It’s been over a decade since Dodge/Ram last sold a midsize truck in the U.S., but negotiations with the UAW may have changed that. Stellantis agreed to reopen its Belvidere, Illinois facility to build a new pickup model as part of its tentative deal to end the strike.
The automaker announced its decision to close the factory in February, which would have cut 1,200 jobs with the discontinuation of the Jeep Cherokee. Following the tentative agreement, UAW Vice President Rich Boyer said the action saved Belvidere and noted that the plant would pick up two shifts due to the change.
Stellantis officials agreed to give workers better pay and more benefits, and the company will add another 1,000-plus jobs with a new battery production facility in Belvidere. We don’t know which truck model Ram will be built at the site, but it might not be the Rampage currently made in Brazil.
While the Rampage is a small truck similar to the Ford Maverick, Ram could go bigger to compete with the Ford Ranger, Toyota Tacoma, and GM twins. Because of its smaller size, it will likely ride on a different platform than the body-on-frame Ram 1500 REV’s platform. That said, the STLA Large platform could be the ticket, and it offers impressive capabilities, with up to 500 miles of range.
[Image: Stellantis]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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Automaker: consumers don't want [fill in the blank] because they don't buy any [blanks].
Well, hard to buy any [blanks] when you don't build any.
GM developed the aluminum block engine with metal sprayed cylinder bores, Ford made it work, Who added the arc to the metal spray process.
It appears somebody forgot to take their meds today...to associate a name of a product and willfully and stupidly associating with a fear of leaving one's own driveway because of some nonsensical prejudice only deems a rapid drive to the nearest psychiatrist....
Will it be able to run on corn squeezins, like the one in Brazil?