We’re edging closer and closer to the grand reveal of the most powerful pickup in the United States, at least as far as series-production trucks are concerned. Ram is shoehorning the Hellcat supercharged V8 under the hood of the 1500 to create the TRX, a Rebel-based leviathan with the same tires as the Ford F-150 Raptor.
TFLNow spied the newcomer on video in a parking lot a few days ago, and as you can tell, those rubber shoes are more than adequate for this application. The pre-production prototype does look a bit shoddy up front, but the tow hooks and heat extractors in the hood appear to preview the truck you’ll be able to buy.
Bolt-on fender flares like that one-of-a-kind “Battle” Bentley Continental GT from South Africa we’ve covered in a previous story, running boards, and a blacked-out grille are also worthy of note. There’s another truck under a cover right next to the TRX, and based on the height of the roof and side mirrors, it's another prototype. Don’t forget that Ram has little testing left to do on the TRX.
At the end of the summer of 2020 is when the Raptor-rivaling “Helltruck” will be unveiled, sporting a twin-screw supercharger from IHI that displaces 2.4 liters. In the case of the Challenger SRT Hellcat from Dodge, this fellow spins at 14,600 rpm to feed the 6.2-liter engine with more air for bigger bangs for more power.
707 horsepower is the ideal figure, mirroring that of the 2015 model year Challenger SRT Hellcat. If we’re lucky, Ram could surprise us with 710 horsepower and 645 pound-feet of torque like the blown HEMI V8 in the Durango SRT Hellcat. Aiming higher than those figures would be wishful thinking.
For reference, the Blue Oval makes do with 3.5 liters, six cylinders, two turbochargers, 450 horsepower, and 510 pound-feet at the crankshaft. An area where Ford has the upper hand – but this is debatable nonetheless – is the 10-speed transmission compared to the Ram truck’s eight-speed ZF Friedrichshafen.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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