Ram Rams Rampage Through Development
Expect to soon see another entrant in the rapidly expanding unibody compact truck segment. Stellantis has thrown covers off its Ram Rampage for the Brazilian market, and camouflaged examples have been spotted testing in America.
With the tentacles of Stellantis stretching across continents to encompass many different brands, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine there are Yurpean parts and pieces installed that distinctively Ram-like snout. Its headlight and grille designs are all-American, as is the badge on its hood that mimics the plaque boasting engine size on other Ram pickup trucks. Aggressive brightening of one image shows a rig ready for prime time, with a quartet of reasonably sized doors, typical Ram wheel designs and badge font, plus an appropriately swollen set of front fenders.
It makes complete sense for Ram to introduce such a rig in America, at this point in time. Ford is having trouble keeping up with demand for its Maverick yet continues to roll out new variants like the Tremor just to stoke the fires of Blue Oval faithful. Hyundai has the Santa Cruz, another compelling entrant in this space. And, to put an exclamation point on the argument this Rampage is likely headed stateside, check out the truck’s taillight design. That’s more than a passing resemblance to the American flag, a detail that’ll be right at home with Ram’s typical over-the-topiary marketing efforts here at home.
So why Rampage and not Dakota? We feel that dragging the Rampage name out of history’s dustbin is the right move for a machine of this ilk, given it was formerly appended to a unibody pickup in the early ‘80s. It also leaves the door open for Ram to continue the development of a midsize truck to fight the Ranger, Canyorado twins, and the new Tacoma. You know Ram fans would simp the hell out of a Dakota Rebel.
[Images: Stellantis]
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Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.
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I think Stellantis made the right call by entering the unibody truck segment rather than a midsize.
The later is already overcrowded and players like the Tacoma, Frontier and the GM twins are well cemented in the buyers list.
I'm not saying Rampage has a better brand equity than Dakota, but the later left the market through the backdoor and few people mourned its loss.
OTOH, the unibody compact truck segment is growing and there is room for competition. If Stellantis brings some edge in price, reliability, availability, capability or a combination of these they may have a winning formula.
So EBFlex and Tassos can go on a peter puffing rampage in a Rampage!!!