I'm not sure how many of you living outside Europe are familiar with a company called Militem. Based in Italy, this crew has made a habit of tampering with American-made vehicles in about the same way Brabus is doing with Mercedes and Singer with Porsche. Granted, Militem is not of that caliber yet, but it's slowly getting there.
On the market for a while now, the Italian customizer likes to tamper with Jeeps and Rams, converting them into beefed-up variants of themselves called Ferox and Magnum, respectively.
Until this week, the converted Jeep family called Ferox had five distinct models, and that remains the same for the foreseeable future. When it comes to the Magnums, though, the lineup grew from two to three with the introduction of the Magnum 700.
The Ram pickup truck was converted by the Italians into something they describe as an "American tech-Italian-made high-performance pickup." A sport utility truck (SUT) if you will the likes of which European roads are not very accustomed to.
The core of the truck remains the one bestowed on the vehicle by Ram itself. There's the 6.2-liter supercharged HEMI V8 under the hood, the one usually found on the Ram 1500 TRX, rated at 702 horsepower and 882 Nm of torque.
The size of the engine allows the rather massive build to reach 62 mph from a perfect standstill in just 4.5 seconds, and to do the quarter mile in 12.9 seconds. Although pretty much stock, the HEMI breathes out courtesy of four black exhaust pipes, and it's aided in its mission by a launch control function.
The frame of the truck is the stock ladder one installed from the factory, but it's enhanced with the fitting of an adaptive suspension and Bilstein shock dampers. Making contact with the ground are 22-inch forged wheels wrapped in oversized tires that can go over any terrain.
The modifications made by Militem to the American truck do not stop at that. The customizer made sure to provide stuff like a double-panel sunroof, remote control for the doors and tailgate, and a dedicated roll bar complete with a retractable LED light bar. Body modifications have been made as well, especially on the front grille, hood, and fenders.
Inside, we get leather with Alcantara inserts and carbon-fiber details with all the proper logos and markings, but also a 12-inch touchscreen infotainment system that controls, among other things, a 19-speaker Harman Kardon sound system.
All of the above come as standard on the Militem Magnum 700, but the company says there are many personal choices to be made when ordering one, going from the exterior color to ambient lights.
Such innate power and acquired upgrades do not come cheap. The Italians are asking no less than 164,950 euros for the modified truck, which is about $180,000 at today's exchange rates. That's double the price of a Ram TRX on its home market.
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
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