The Ram Rebel is a great and very capable pickup. But it’s no Ford Raptor, and Ram has never pretended that it was. Now, the truck maker has decided to officially bring to market the 1500 TRX, a truck first unveiled as a concept back in 2016.
But that’s far from the only plan Ram has for new trucks. The company has also revealed plans for a new mid-size pickup, an all-new heavy-duty pickup and an all-new ProMaster City van by 2022.
Besides new vehicles, Ram reports that it will also be introducing Level II autonomy on the Ram 1500 and ProMaster City by 2021 and its heavy-duty pickups by 2022. The announcements came during FCA’s Capital Market Day meeting in Balloco, Italy, where the automaker presented its five-year business plan to financial analysts and institutional investors.
As you’ll see in Ram’s presentation slides below, little was said about its upcoming vehicles. Pictures of the 2016 TRX Rebel concept are shown below along with video. The 2016 TRX concept is powered by a 575-horsepower 6.2-liter V8, the same used in the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. We’d assume that the TRX Ram actually brings to market will look a bit different from this 2016 concept which was based on the previous generation 1500 lineup’s design language.
Popular Ram fan website, 5thgenrams.com, reported in April that the production variant of the TRX will also be available with Dodge’s 707-hp powerplant which is currently available in the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. As it stands now, that would easily make it the most powerful OEM-produced pickup in the world.
As for the mid-size segment, Ram has hinted before of re-entering the market currently dominated by the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon and soon to be shared with the returning Ford Ranger. The mid-size Dodge Dakota went out of production in 2011.
On the topic of engine technology, FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne said that the company’s last diesel engine will be sold by 2021 in Europe. The fate of FCA diesels in North America is not as clear. Ram recently announced diesel variants for the 2019 Ram 1500, 2019 Jeep Wrangler and for a new heavy-duty pickup coming in 2019.