Yahoo Autos Ram Is Launching a Mid-Size Pickup in the U.S.
UPDATE 9/17/18: A new report from Automotive News posits that this upcoming Ram mid-size pickup will be built in the same Toledo, Ohio plant as the Jeep Wrangler, suggesting that the Ram will share components with the upcoming Wrangler pickup. This contradicts our earlier report from FCA's five-year plan presentation, where late CEO Sergio Marchionne and then-chief of Jeep Mike Manley said that the mid-size Ram would be built in Mexico. When reached for comment, FCA representatives referred us back to the statements made about this new model at the five-year plan presentation in Italy earlier this year.
Ram will field a new mid-size pickup in the United States, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne has confirmed. FCA has been without an entry in this segment since the Dodge Dakota disappeared in 2011, and the company has said again and again that it doesn’t need a truck smaller than the full-size 1500. But that thinking seems to have changed now, and the company will build a new, smaller pickup in Mexico starting in 2021. It will be exported to the U.S. as well as other global markets.
Few details are available about the new mid-size truck at this point. It will be built at the Saltillo, Mexico, plant that currently builds heavy-duty Rams; production of those trucks is slated to move to the United States soon, which will free up capacity for the mid-size pickup. As far as the chassis goes, we’re thinking the new truck might use a shortened version of the new Ram 1500 platform. Turbo four-cylinder and V-6 engine options seem likely given the competition.
We do know that the new pickup will wear Ram or Fiat badges, depending on the market. Regarding nameplates, there is currently a Mitsubishi-based Ram 1200 pickup sold in the Middle East, so that seems a possibility for the new model’s designation. Calling it the Ram Dakota could leverage some of that discontinued model’s name recognition, but this is all pure speculation at this point.
The new mid-size Ram will face competition not only from stalwarts such as the Toyota Tacoma and the Nissan Frontier, but also from General Motors’ Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon and Ford’s impending Ranger redux. Ram might not be shooting for segment-leading sales, however; Marchionne noted that he thinks the majority of the volume for this new truck would be from non-U.S. markets. No arrival date was given beyond the fact that the model falls within FCA’s five-year plan.
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