#ram

Automakers often invite dealers to view unreleased future products to give them an idea of what’s coming and to drum up interest in the brand. Mopar Insiders reported that Stellantis recently held its annual Dealer Business Meeting in Las Vegas and took the opportunity to show off dozens of upcoming vehicles, including a new midsize truck from Ram.

Today's used car of the day is a truck.

This 2012 Ram Laramie 2500 has four-wheel drive, 185K miles, and has been used to tow.

Many automakers have dabbled with subscription services in which customers front however many hundreds of dollars a month for the ability to swap into a fresh vehicle so many times per year. Success has been limited, with most OEMs quickly withdrawing their tentative toe from the pool for a myriad of reasons.

Now, Stellantis is jumping into the game. Sort of.

Axios, the news source for people who like bullet points, has a post out today examining how the pickup truck market has changed over the years, with an emphasis on the shift in consumer preferences from smaller trucks to big, honkin' full-size rigs.

Happy New Year, TTAC! We’re less than a full week into 2023 and there’s already a ton of EV and EV-adjacent news to cover that I was struggling to figure out where to start — that is until Stellantis took the wraps off the new Ram Revolution BEV concept truck at CES last night!

We've covered the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) pretty extensively this week, despite the fact that none of us have been on the ground in Vegas.

The Ram Revolution Concept is here. Ram took the wraps off its competitor to the Ford F-150 Lightning and Chevrolet Silverado EV at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today.

The Ram Revolution will be shown at CES today.

Ever the brand to produce the most in-yer-face variants of vehicles that already register on the Richter Scale of Aggression, Ram is amping up its 700 horsepower pickup truck by introducing the 2023 Ram 1500 TRX Havoc Edition.

It’s yellow. Did you notice?

The byzantine House of Stellantis rolled out its own captive finance arm just over a year ago, seeking to pocket some of those sweet loan profits which were flowing out the door whilst the company attempted to rebuild itself following a sojourn through bankruptcy and an embarrassing parade of suitors.

Now, it seems approximately two-thirds of Stellantis dealers in this country are using the captive lender – after, of course, the sales staff pencils a healthy leg in the four-square prior to stuffing them in The Box.

People often need to leave their truck’s tailgate open to move longer items or cargo that won’t fit with the gate closed. It can be perfectly safe if everything is properly secured and marked for others to see, but having the tailgate open unexpectedly could cause big problems.

Step back in time with me to the Seventies, and imagine being in a boardroom in Highland Park, Michigan. The marketers and advertising copywriters of Chrysler were, at the time, reacting to the personal luxury vehicle trend with the Cordoba. Ricardo Montalbán had worked everyone up into a rich Corinthian lather, all but assuring buyers that good times and sexytime were simply a signature away at the local Chrysler dealer. 

In another room, the Dodge truck folks were trying to compete with crosstown rivals. Adding accessories and other fripperies to the D-series pickup created what was known as the “Adult Toys” lineup - including the black/gold Warlock model, as well as the smokestack-equipped Li’l Red Express. These factory customs acknowledged that people were buying trucks not just for work - and anticipated in part the explosion of the truck market that was to come.

But Khan himself could have never foreseen something like the 2022 Ram 1500 Rebel - a four-wheel drive, five-passenger truck that rides better than the nicest Chryslers and Imperials while handling truck duties better than any Dodge of the disco era. 

Stellantis is now among the ranks of large companies that have paused or pulled advertising on Twitter.

Early November isn't the only time the automotive world looks towards Las Vegas.

Sin City finds itself back in the spotlight every January for the Consumer Electronics Show. Automakers have long had a significant presence at CES, and now a report suggests Ram will be taking the wraps off of an EV concept there.

Pickup truck makers are seemingly bound and determined to explore the upper echelons of price and luxury, constantly layering trim after trim (and profit after profit) atop their popular models. The latest? For 2023, there will be a Ram 1500 Limited Elite available on dealer lots.