Don’t expect Ram’s new boss to bring new Rampage to U.S.
Two things you need to know about Ram, Stellantis’ truck brand: Yes, it just dropped a YouTube video of the new Dodge Rampage, what appears to be a unibody, four-wheel-drive pickup—which we’ve spotted before—for the Brazilian market. The only English spoken in the video is by Mike Kovacs, identified as CEO of the Ram brand, and it’s pretty generic: “You think of power, you think of courage, you think of work ethic, that’s who we are as a brand…” And at the end it says, in English, “Follow the Ram.”
That’s not exactly a promise that the Rampage is coming to North America, and Todd Goyer, public relations head for the U.S. Ram brand, has no comment.
The other thing you need to know is that Tim Kuniskis, CEO of the Dodge brand, has just taken over the Ram brand, with Mike Kovacs moving over to the aftermarket Mopar division. Kuniskis has a reputation for doing things his way, so when a midsized Ram pickup comes to the U.S.—and it will, rumor insists—it may well not be the Brazilian Rampage; it will be something Kuniskis wants.
It may not use the same sort of construction as the Rampage; a Hyundai Santa Cruz–style unibody may not play well against the more rugged and refreshed Chevrolet Colorado, Ford Ranger, Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier.
The compact pickup may not be named the Rampage, which was the name of a Dodge Charger–based trucklet from the 1980s. It may not even be named Dakota, Ram’s last midsized truck, which, when it left several years ago, did not exactly go out in a blaze of glory.
Enjoy the video from Brazil, but don’t be so sure that the Brazilian Rampage, despite taillights that oddly resemble an American flag, is Ram’s idea of a midsized truck for the U.S.
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