It looks like the media attention heaped on Ford’s newly improved 2017 F-150 Raptor has made Fiat Chrysler Automobiles a little jealous.
The automaker unveiled a brash off-road truck concept at the Texas State Fair today, testing the waters for a possible production version. Think of the Ram Rebel TRX as a Hellcat 1500.
From a distance, the pickup resembles a Ram Rebel or Power Wagon, as the concept steals both of those models’ appearance cues. Draw closer, and it’s clear this pickup has put on some girth.
To accommodate a set of massive 37-inch tires, FCA widened the Ram’s body by six inches. Wheel travel grows to 13 inches on each corner, an increase of 40 percent. Underneath, heavy-duty axle components and an upgraded suspension awaits punishment not only from uneven ground, but from the vehicle’s boosted engine power.
Compared to its would-be rival, the Rebel TRX beats Ford by 125 horsepower, thanks to a 575 hp supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi V8. If the description sounds familiar, you might want to look under the hood of a Dodge Challenger (or Charger) Hellcat, where the same displacement makes 707 hp.
An eight-speed Torqueflight automatic with recalibrated shift points put the power to the wheels. For those off-road jaunts — and FCA does envision this thing galloping across the desert at 100 miles per hour — Ram’s 4×4 Performance Control System (and BorgWarner 44-45 transfer case) offers four driving modes, including “Baja.”
FCA describes the vehicle as an “engineering, design and consumer-interest study for an extreme performance half-ton pickup,” giving many hope that a Raptor-challenging production version could be just over the horizon. If fans show enough enthusiasm for the Rebel TRX concept, the desert could get a lot louder.
[Images: © 2016 Matthew Guy/The Truth About Cars]
Calling Mr Buck Rogers. Your truck is here.
Speaking of Sci-Fi, why is it that the best Robocop could imagine in the 80’s was a Taurus, when reality turns out stuff like this?
Because Robocop was a *dystopia*…
We do have Taurus cop cars. Oh, sorry, Ford Police Interceptors…
Robocop was *prophetic*.
What about the 6000 SUX. I’d buy that for a dollar.
There’s an exclusive waiting list for that model.
Just don’t go for the convertible model. Thirty seconds in the California sun is too much these days.
Not a very flattering pic. I hope it looks better in person.
More pics here:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-shows/paris-auto-show/news/a30982/ram-rebel-trx-concept/
To me, this is what the Viper is to the Corvette or Ford GT – uncivilized in a cool FCA sort of way.
This begs the question: Is there indeed a “cool FCA sort of way”?
Well, yes. I’m referring to how the Viper’s quality, ride, driveability, or comfort were never applauded, yet reviewers loved its raw power and old-school starkness.
Some people find that sort of experience charming.
You’re right – what an ugly POS for the small penis crowd.
I see they’re recycling one of the old AMC names but on a very different type of vehicle. Maybe there’s a new Rambler in the future as well?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/1968_AMC_Rebel_convertible.JPG
This is REALLY old news. In production for a year now.
I think pickups finally jumped the shark, and I drive a King Ranch. Barf.
So you’re choking on Ford’s weakness? Elaborate.
I’m referring to luxury trim line upon luxury trim line. Lariat/King Ranch/Platinum/Limited/Raptor, or if you prefer, Lariat/Longhorn/Mega Mega Rebel Ram/whatever.
I just think that one of these model years customers of these high end vehicles are going to spend their money on something else instead of the latest bloated deluxe truck offering.
I like bells and whistles too, but I don’t see this fad continuing too many more years.
Looks like some kind of cartoon truck driven by a teenage super hero.
It’s the State Fair of Texas, not the Texas State Fair. The largest state fair in the country, by the way.
Totally sincere question: Is there a difference?
Do both fairs exist?
Just the one, and its official name is the State Fair of Texas.
http://bigtex.com/
*clap-clap-clap-clap*
And, RAM (Dodge) trotting out *another* Raptor fighter concept?
The “Ram Runner” was a failure for Dodge since they basically took bits from KORE’s (Kroeker Off Road Engineering)catalogue and marked it up and added Mopar to the package. The truck was better than the Raptor through whoops. That was it. Everywhere else it sucked.
This “Ram Rebel TRX” will need some serious tuning if they expect to sell a credible Raptor fighter.
When ya’ hit the horn will it let out a “REBEL YELL”?
Celebrity endorsement from Billy Idol.
I believe he was thinking of a different kind of rebel yell…
maybe FCA can let you choose
Don’t know about a Rebel Yell, but considering this “Dodge” was built to take jumps it should at least whistle Dixie.
If a Texan and his… partner each get one, then they can have a REBEL REBEL.
Love it! Sign me up.
Wow.
If the current batch of GM trucks were designed by Dr. Ugly’s School of Fashion, this thing is the bastard child of Dr. Ugly’s mother and his uncle Little Shortdick.
What about the 1955 GMC?
When “brash off-road truck” turns out to be a euphemism, you know it’s pretty fugly.
Are panel gaps this wide accepted on pickup trucks now?
For GMC…that’s precision engineering. For the rest of the US truck mfrs, its that way to more easily clean all the dirt and coal the bro’s roll. YEEEEHAAAW!!!!
Cactuar – the Ram Runner was mind boggling as to how poor the aftermarket fenders fit. I got to see one up close a few years back.
If you are talking about the fender to bumper gap that is most likely on purpose to prevent the bumper from smashing the fenders when the frame goes one way and the cab the other.
@Scoutdude – nope. The back of front fender where it joined the cab had a gap. The truck’s snout was setup more for a baja style tube bumper IIRC.
I was referring to this concept, not the previous one that you saw in person.
Scoutdude – okay. My bad.
No problem
When they expensively clowned-up little Asian cars they were called ricers.
Now some of them are making good enough coin to expensively clown-up Murican pickup trucks; should they be called steakers? Meaters? Dorks?
Burgerers?
Yeah, I wanted to use burgers somehow… or just meatheads.
The technical term is “Brodozer”. FCA better make sure this thing doesn’t cannibalize Challenger SRT sales….
This, then again I think I use Brodozer to describe every modern full size trucks these days. Incorrect I know but it seems like every new generation the mantra seems to be “add 6 inches to every dimension!”.
@raph – that may he appearance but there hasn’t been a significant change in size.
The only time Ford, at least, has added 6″ in any dimension in a single generation was the 6″ cab stretch in 2004 (for regular and SuperCabs) or 2009 (SuperCrews). And no one sitting in the cab has complained about that yet.
BroDozer still works well
Given the Raptor’s mind share, Ram needs to go whole hog and kit this thing with a long travel IRS to gain foothold. And to stiffen and buff the living crap out of the frame and mount points, to avoid Gen1 Raptor like embarrassment when some kids decide to let it fly.
stuki – the infamous Raptor run in California that lead to most of the complaints all involved modified Raptors. The trucks had stock shocks but all were running softer Deaver springs. Softer springs means that the stock shocks are going to have to work harder and therefore run hotter. The Raptors in that run also were running tuners that killed the speed limiter. The trucks frames bent upward causing a widened gap at the cab/box junction from the suspension bottoming out. The frame was driven upwards.
A hard hit to the snout should have folded the frame closing the cab/box gap. I’ve seen that in trucks that have ran off the road and plowed hard into the ditch with minimal nose body damage.
Interestingly enough there were a few “bone” stock Raptors in that run that hit the same square edged lip and suffered zero damage.
When selling a halo truck billed as a “Baja Racer”, it’s never a bad idea to design in plenty of headroom for tuners, modified suspensions, excessive speeds etc. Even more so with a Hellcat engine powering the thing :)
I’m not saying Ford did a “bad” job on the Raptor, or that “it doesn’t hold up to intended use.” Just that you’ll always have some who take anything to the limit and beyond, and when you market to self appointed badasses, it can’t hurt to build for badasses as well. Ford has ostensibly taken this into account this time, by letting the Raptor diverge much further from the standard truck than they did for Gen1.
I’m suggesting Ram needs to go even further. As in IRS. Which will make it even more important to engineer for even higher speeds. And jumps. One of Ram’s usps across it’s truck lines, is their willingness to adopt more sophisticated suspensions that the traditional live/leaf rear. So why not have their Hellcat powered Halo (unlikely to be cheap regardless) go whole hog on that front?
@Stuki – fair enough. Agreed. One should take into consideration tuners.
With that being said, I’ve seen guys implode rear shocks and bend frames on MX bikes.
I’d be nervous jumping a nose heavy pickup. The new Raptor with the V6 at least lightens up the front.
The rear Fox shocks are angled forward, almost to the point between the bed and cab. They were way too stiff for the customized springs, so on impact, crash energy was transferred through them and relieved by the frame. That’s a whole lot better than passengers with spinal injuries.
DenverMike – it can be argued that by going to softer rate springs you would actually need stiffer shock valving on compression and softer on rebound.
The springs function to a limited degree as a shock absorber. A stiffer spring will provide more resistance to compression but will have a tendency to rebound more quickly.
You change the springs without revalving the shocks, you end up prematurely overheating the shocks.
Those Raptors bent the frames when the axles nailed the “bottom out” bumpers on the frame as well as having the shocks bottom out.
The Raptor engineers did not put adjustable shocks on it because they know that the vast majority of drivers would just screw up the settings. I’ve seen that fact countless times with sport bike and dirt bike suspensions.
The issue was the softer springs without the use of hydraulic bump stops which would have prevented the OEM rubber bump stops from bottoming out and kinking the frame.
The 2017 Raptor has gusseted the frame in this area.
The bump stops were damaged, but not the frame between the spring mounts. The axle rotated forward (from the top), as shown by the smashed bumpstop cups. Frame impact in this area wouldn’t have bent the frame between the bed and cab, definitely not separating them as in this case.
The shocks sent crash energy upward, ahead of the front spring-mounts, right near the weakest point on the frame, not boxed by either the bed or cab. Only the shocks can supply upward force in that vulnerable area.
If you look at the SCORE Raptors, the rear shocks are optimally, straight up, or perpendicular to the springs, but obviously on a factory pickup, they’d have to go through the bed.
Yet another special edition brought to you by the company who is stretching the lifespan of all of its products. Chrysler, cuz we got nothing else coming.
Oh and that grille looks stupid on an otherwise fine truck. The normal grill is much more fitting.
@28 – I’m surprised that it took FCA this long to put a HellCat engine into a pickup.
I agree, seems like an obvious move.
God help me, but I want that thing.
I like it as well….remove some of the tacked on vents and LED lighting (hate that sh!t) but otherwise it looks promising.
Whatever happened to sport trucks? Everything is a desert runner now and Ford seems to have that theme wrapped up well.
I would like to see a Canyon Syclone with the ATS-V engine or a Silverado SS with the 6.2SC or a return of the Ram SRT or Lightning.