Could Ram be the next Hilux or Ranger challenger?
Well, potentially.
Ram’s owner Stellantis says they are closely monitoring the Ute market in Australasia and Asia.
“If we have a Ram in that segment, it will be very Ram,” a Stellantis representative told Aussie media.
“When you talk about Ram, you talk about towing, you talk about power. But you also think about luxury.”
Currently, Kiwis can get their hands on the Ram 1500, a more “full-sized” pickup and one that can’t exactly be compared fairly to the average Amarok.
If anything, the closest thing to a ‘Ute’ Ram has built was the Dakota.
The Dakota was sized above the Ranger and came with a V8 option.
Initial sales in the US were strong but were discontinued in 2011. Ram has yet to step back into the mid-sized pickup market again because of the lack of demand in the States.
Still, the news is looking at returning to that market, which will likely come our way if they did, is rather exciting.
Ram did tease the revival of the Dakota in 2018 but hadn’t said anything about that since.
Instead, last year Ram announced an electric Ute of sorts is in the works to be launched in 2026. It will have a shared platform with typical passenger cars and SUVs, so, again, not the expected Kiwi ute.
