Ram’s parent company Stellantis is late to the game when it comes to electrifying its lineup, but this measured approach is allegedly one its dealers are a fan of. Its Ram 1500 equivalent will reportedly have a gasoline range extender to relieve range anxiety, and now Automotive News has a report claiming dealers were shown a new mid-size pickup concept, and the reception was excellent.
Randy Dye, a former dealer council chairman for Stellantis, told Automotive News that the concept he and hundreds of other dealers saw for a pickup smaller than the full-size 1500 was “spectacular.” He added that the automaker is doubtlessly “going to be back in that [midsize] game.”
At the conference, which was the first of its kind to take place since Fiat Chrysler merged with France’s PSA group to become Stellantis, dealers were reportedly shown more than 30 concepts. The midsize pickup was the one that stuck out, though. Dye stated that the truck embodied the Ram brand language exceptionally well and that similar pickups from other automakers struggle to resemble their larger counterparts. It looked a lot like the Ram Revolution concept, he said.
What this means in terms of the companies’ competition is unclear. Neither Ford nor General Motors have really discussed electrifying their mid-size offerings, at least not publically. Chevrolet, for instance, just unveiled the new Colorado with pure internal-combustion power. The new Ranger, although it has yet to be revealed stateside, is the same way.
Regardless, jumping back into the midsize pickup segment could be a huge move for Ram. The automaker’s last smaller pickup, the Dakota, left production in 2011. Since then the segment has been dominated by the Toyota Tacoma. This is despite the full-size segment still being weak for the Japanese automaker—domestics still rule the half-ton category. If Ram could make the first electrified move into smaller trucks, it could be a boon.
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