Photo: Ram
Today can’t get any better, can it? It can when you're Ram, with the truckmaker revealing what it will bring to market by 2022. In the red corner, there’s the 1500 TRX that will take on the likes of the F-150 Raptor. And in the blue corner, the Dakota is coming back to challenge the mid-sized Colorado, Canyon, Ranger, and Tacoma.
Presented at the Capital Markets Day 2018, the five-year plan makes a case for the TRX by patting Ford on the back for the Raptor. Ram highlights that the average transaction price is $71,000, translating to $28,000 above the Ford Motor Company’s average. Then there’s this line, which needs no explanation: “attracts younger buyers with twice the median income.”
Ram is interested in maximizing profit by all means, and it so happens the TRX is the product the brand needs to convince younger buyers to think twice before putting a deposit down on the Raptor. Details on the newcomer are still slim at the present moment, though an older report suggests there will be two versions with eight-cylinder engines.
The TR is the first and lesser of those two, packing a 7.0-liter N/A V8 codenamed Banshee. The TRX, meanwhile, has been teased by FCA by means of an Easter Egg which reads 7:07. Yup, that’ll be 707 supercharged ponies.
Regarding the Dodge Dakota, chief executive officer Mike Manley once said that it’s bound to happen. “I very much believe that that’s an opportunity for the brand," he let it slip two years ago. A simple look at the business plan reveals the Dakota’s successor is happening. When? Heaven only knows.
Chances are Ram will use a shortened version of the 1500 platform for the all-new Dakota, but there’s another side of the story you should know about. FCA and VW held talks last year about bringing the Amarok to the United States, yet nothing came out of that meeting. Bearing in mind Volkswagen is believed to develop an MQB-based workhorse for the U.S., which would be built alongside the Atlas in Chattanooga, the Dakota should be 100% FCA.
To whom it may concern, an all-new Promaster City panel van is on the way too. The larger Promaster, however, won't change too much by the end of the five-year plan. And on that note, the 1500 and Promaster City will gain Level 2 autonomy in 2021 and the heavy-duty lineup will follow suit in 2022.
Ram is interested in maximizing profit by all means, and it so happens the TRX is the product the brand needs to convince younger buyers to think twice before putting a deposit down on the Raptor. Details on the newcomer are still slim at the present moment, though an older report suggests there will be two versions with eight-cylinder engines.
The TR is the first and lesser of those two, packing a 7.0-liter N/A V8 codenamed Banshee. The TRX, meanwhile, has been teased by FCA by means of an Easter Egg which reads 7:07. Yup, that’ll be 707 supercharged ponies.
Regarding the Dodge Dakota, chief executive officer Mike Manley once said that it’s bound to happen. “I very much believe that that’s an opportunity for the brand," he let it slip two years ago. A simple look at the business plan reveals the Dakota’s successor is happening. When? Heaven only knows.
Chances are Ram will use a shortened version of the 1500 platform for the all-new Dakota, but there’s another side of the story you should know about. FCA and VW held talks last year about bringing the Amarok to the United States, yet nothing came out of that meeting. Bearing in mind Volkswagen is believed to develop an MQB-based workhorse for the U.S., which would be built alongside the Atlas in Chattanooga, the Dakota should be 100% FCA.
To whom it may concern, an all-new Promaster City panel van is on the way too. The larger Promaster, however, won't change too much by the end of the five-year plan. And on that note, the 1500 and Promaster City will gain Level 2 autonomy in 2021 and the heavy-duty lineup will follow suit in 2022.
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