Ram is getting ready to take on the Ford Ranger again with an all-new ute, and now the CEO of parent company Stellantis has teased the long-awaited dual-cab 4×4 pickup truck.
“That is now a product for ’27,” said Antonio Filosa at the Kepler Cheuvreux Autumn Conference when asked when Ram will introduce a so-called mid-size (Ranger-size) pickup.
“Two weeks ago I was in our design centre in Detroit and I saw the car itself – not only the sketches and the design but the clay model – and it’s just beautiful.
“And all the specs that we are imagining in the product briefing are very good in the segment, so that’s why 2027 we’ll have a very strong Ram offer in that segment.”
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Mopar Insiders has previously reported the upcoming US-built ute will incorporate traditional body-on-frame construction, like the Ranger and Ram’s own full-size pickup truck range.
It’s unclear what powertrains it will offer, or whether it’ll be built in right-hand drive, but has long planned a ‘global metric-ton pickup’ for sale worldwide.
With looser emissions regulations in the US under current president Donald Trump, there’s less of a need for Ram to introduce electric or plug-in hybrid powertrains.
Notably, Ram recently confirmed it wouldn’t produce its electric 1500 REV after all, though it’ll still release an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) that will now wear that name (instead of Ramcharger).
Ram’s last model in the mid-size pickup segment, the Dakota axed in 2011, offered a choice of V6 and V8 petrol engines.
While the mid-size ute segment in Australia is dominated by diesel powertrains, which also account for the lion’s share of sales in other major ute markets like Thailand, it’s a different story in the US market.
There, every vehicle is offered exclusively with petrol power. The Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, for example, are available exclusively with turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engines, while the Nissan Frontier and Jeep Gladiator come with naturally aspirated petrol V6s and the Ford Ranger offers a combination of turbo-four and twin-turbo V6 petrol engines.
There’s little in the way of electrification in this segment, either, apart from the turbocharged four-cylinder hybrid powertrain offered in the Toyota Tacoma.
To get a diesel ute in the US, you need to step up to a full-size pickup.
Ram will sell you a mid-size diesel ute in other markets, however. The unibody Ram Rampage offered in Latin America, for example, offers a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four producing 147kW of power and 450Nm of torque.
It’s possible Ram could put its Hurricane twin-turbo 3.0-litre inline petrol six in a new mid-size ute, which would allow it to tackle the Ranger even more directly.
Current Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis has said the company needs a more affordable ute to slot in under the 1500, following the axing of the previous-generation (DS-series) 1500 Classic, saying earlier this year he wants one “so bad”.
Ram first indicated it would reintroduce a mid-size ute in July 2021 when it teased a new electric model – based on the STLA Large unibody architecture – in wireframe… and then promptly never mentioned it publicly again.
Over a year later in September 2022, then-Ram CEO Mike Koval Jr reportedly showed dealers an early concept of a mid-size ute “to gauge their interest”, and then showed a concept version to dealers in March 2023.
The then-Ram boss also confirmed to CarExpert the model was being developed with international and right-hand drive markets in mind.
It was subsequently confirmed via a labour agreement that a new ute would enter production in Stellantis’ Belvidere plant in the US state of Illinois in 2027.
Ram hasn’t offered a vehicle in this segment in North America since it axed the Dakota in 2011, though it has offered various mid-size utes in Latin America and the Middle East.
That includes the Ram 1200, a nameplate used on a rebadged Mitsubishi Triton for the Middle East and a rebadged Changan F70 in Mexico.
An updated version of the latter was revealed in concept guise in Brazil in August, bearing the Ram Dakota Nightfall nameplate. It’s expected to be exclusive to Latin America.
It’s unclear what nameplate the new US-built pickup will wear, given the new Chinese-based ute for Latin America could dust off the Dakota nameplate.
This was previously used by Dodge for three generations in North America, with the final generation briefly wearing the Ram nameplate.