The 2020s sure feels like it’s going to be the decade of the unibody pickup truck. After several false starts, the segment has reached the point where the water’s warm, the margin potential is decent, and people seem to really love these little trucklets. So when will more manufacturers jump in the pool? Well, it looks like another manufacturer is taking up the gauntlet — sort-of. Say hello to a right-sized recreational pickup with a familiar model name: The Ram Rampage.
Powered by Stellantis’ ubiquitous two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, and shown in the teaser shots above and later in this article, this punchy little pickup is sized similarly to the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz, but doesn’t compete with either. That’s because it’s not officially slated for America. Sure, some intrepid photographers may have captured shots of it testing in Michigan, but that’s officially due to an engineering partnership between Stellantis’ South American team and its U.S. team. As of right now, there are no publicly-announced official plans to bring the Rampage to North America, and that seems shortsighted.
See, the conceptually-similar Ford Maverick is still one of the hottest cars in America. I say “still” because they first arrived on dealer lots in 2021 and are still a hot commodity. Ford simply can’t build them quickly enough to keep up with demand, and Ford’s not the only one reveling in small pickup truck success.
While there might not seem to be the same fervor for the Hyundai Santa Cruz that there is for the Maverick, it’s still selling well for a niche product. The Santa Cruz had its best sales month ever in May, with 16,423 sold in America so far this year. That doesn’t sound like a huge number, but it’s crushing the desirable Ioniq 5 EV in the sales race, and Hyundai will sell every trucklet it makes. So how could Ram repackage the Rampage to stand out against heavy-hitters in this newly-established segment? Let’s take a closer look at the Ford Maverick and see if it leaves any white space.
The Ford Maverick has several stumbling points for consumers, chief of which is availability. Ford claims it “completely under-called the demand” for the Maverick, to the point where completing all 2023 model year orders is a concern. One relatively simple way to compete with the Maverick is to just have a competing product on dealer lots, which sounds easier than re-engineering a product. However, the Maverick’s packaging of electrification is also a sore spot. If you want a hybrid Maverick, you’ll have to be content with front-wheel-drive and no plug-in option. While the 2.5-liter hybrid powertrain is phenomenally efficient, it’s no PHEV. So how could Ram cram a PHEV powertrain into a competing product?
Well, the Ram Rampage is built on Stellantis’ SUSW platform, which means that the 1.3-liter turbocharged plug-in hybrid powertrain from the Hornet R/T could just maybe, possibly, perhaps be shoehorned into the Rampage. In the Hornet, this powertrain cranks out 288 combined horsepower and 383 combined lb.-ft. of torque, all while offering a claimed 30 miles of all-electric range thanks to a 15.5 kWh battery pack. In the process of verifying these figures, I learned that Dodge has the word “bullshit” on its corporate website in full, uncensored glory, so there’s that.
Anyway, those output figures would be excellent in a small pickup truck, far surpassing what the Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz have to offer.
A possible unique powertrain is all well and good, but Stellantis would also need another place to build the Rampage. See, pickup trucks sold in America need to be built in USMCA countries to not run afoul of the Chicken Tax. Well, how about Toluca Assembly? This Mexican plant already makes the Rampage’s Jeep Compass platform-mate, and it has a nearby stamping plant. Considering how Jeep crossovers aren’t exactly selling quickly enough, re-allocating factory space from Compass production to Rampage production makes a ton of sense.
Of course, this all sounds easy on paper, but it requires hundreds of millions of dollars to make happen. Plus, there’s no guarantee that all hard points of the Rampage are easy to federalize. Just because it’s on a common platform doesn’t mean it necessarily passes all U.S. requirements. Still, we can dream. Stellantis reportedly showed dealers a similar small pickup truck months ago, so there’s a sliver of a chance the Rampage could just possibly make it to American showrooms. It really deserves to, as more small pickup trucks means more fun for everyone.
(Photo credits: Ram, Ford, Hyundai, Dodge)
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Vehicles like this remind me of the value that would exist in integrating US vehicle standards with EU standards. There is no sufficiently compelling reason, I think, to have to sepnd jillions of dollars to conform cars to US standards that are different enough from EU standards to make it so expensive. This would, among other things, make it easier to sell lower-cost cars here due to lower compliance costs. Aside from the manufacturing-location problem.
We’re not ready for EV ONLY in most of the country. I want to go 500 miles in a day and limit my stops to 5 minutes to tank up and not have to worry about finding a charger or wasting an hour or two while I add a few hundred miles of range and paying $$$ per kwh. Ain’t going to happen.
BUT we do have an EV for around town and we can charge it at home – it’s a perfect use case for that if you can have 2 vehicles. I’d love to pair our EV with a PHEV small 4-door pickup for road trips, hauling and trailering. A complementary 2-car situation. EV for in town, small PHEV truck for everything else (and in town when the wife is in the EV).
That said, I’d prefer (as mentioned in another comment) a PHEV with full-time EV drive motor(s) and an ICE as a generator only and not to drive the wheels. The ICE could/should be a super efficient single-speed engine paired with a matching generator.
Other requirements:
The Mazda MX-30 PHEV with the little rotary is a great idea poorly realized. The car is too small, battery / generator too small, and way way way to slow.
Image a small 4-door truck with a nice interior, nice ride, good battery range and performance for 75-100miles and a gas tank for longer trips. Pair it with a Omega-One or Liquid Piston rotary + generator and I’d be first in line with my check book.
Literally why is a 7 second 0-60 a requirement for actually anybody ever
I think that’s modest by todays standards. The answer is traffic. If I’m trying to merge onto an interstate on a too-short on-ramp (See I12/I55 interchange for example) than I don’t want to hope that I might be able to merge into the 75-85 mph traffic.
7 sec 0-60, is IMHO what’s needed to be safe, at least in the deep south where speed limits are often just a suggestion. Much slower than that and I’m wanting more acceleration.
We’re not ready for EV ONLY in most of the country. I want to go 500 miles in a day and limit my stops to 5 minutes to tank up and not have to worry about finding a charger or wasting an hour or two while I add a few hundred miles of range and paying $$$ per kwh. Ain’t going to happen.
BUT we do have an EV for around town and we can charge it at home – it’s a perfect use case for that if you can have 2 vehicles. I’d love to pair our EV with a PHEV small 4-door pickup for road trips, hauling and trailering. A complementary 2-car situation. EV for in town, small PHEV truck for everything else (and in town when the wife is in the EV).
That said, I’d prefer (as mentioned in another comment) a PHEV with full-time EV drive motor(s) and an ICE as a generator only and not to drive the wheels. The ICE could/should be a super efficient single-speed engine paired with a matching generator.
Other requirements:
The Mazda MX-30 PHEV with the little rotary is a great idea poorly realized. The car is too small, battery / generator too small, and way way way to slow. Image a small 4-door truck with a nice interior, nice ride, good EV range and performance for 75-100miles on battery, and a gas tank for longer trips. Pair it with a Omega-One or Liquid Piston rotary + generator and I’d be first in line with my check book.
Axing all their Dodge cars in favor of the Hornet was proof enough that Stellantis doesn’t understand the current market. This is just icing on the cake.
38 comments. This tells me there is buzz, but not Maverick levels of excitement.
Knowing Dodge the entry level ones will be garbage and they’ll sell some high horsepower one that’ll be immediately crackle-tuned and waking people up at 4am.
So yeah, not super excited.
The demand curve for trucks in USA seems pretty inelastic presently.
There is always room at the market entry level for trucks, as witnessed by runaway success Maverick.
The Santa Cruz has struggled only because of the SUV derived odd duck C pillar.
The next entrant will not make that mistake.
I don’t think the younger generation is as hung up on unit body vs. body-on-frame like the older folks. Unit body certainly has proven itself. Most use cases will be light duty.
I also don’t think they much care which end has the drive wheels either.
I don’t understand the current dawdling by OEMs.
I have mentioned this in other posts but I surmise the almost panic-like shift to EVs has swept OEM product development capital solely into future EV models and strangled opportunities for new or improved ICE/hybrid products.
A new, competitive compact pickup in addition to Maverick from “somebody-anybody?” seems like an obvious fairly low risk venture if it’s not three years out.
I would argue that the main struggles have been efficiency and price. The Maverick beats the Santa Cruz on both, and doesn’t lock either engine choice behind a higher trim. The Santa Cruz could do a lot better if they offered the hybrid and/or PHEV, especially if they were available at the base trim. Even just offering the turbo on all trims would potentially improve sales.
I concur that the Maverick is a better value proposition, and buyers responded accordingly. However, I still maintain the Santa Cruz looks truck-ish, but not quite a truck, and that fact alone has dissuaded potential truck buyers. I think they would have been better off with a traditional cab-box looking configuration.
What would really help is less marketing pics of trucks out crushung critters and vegetation and more going about doing truck stuff in urban/suburban environments where these things are needed to perforom a common use case (hint, not crushing pedestrians instead). There is so much hoopla over supporting small businesses, well guess what, small trucks are an important part of that equation.
Have you seen a Maverick commercial? That’s exactly what they are. “Ford Maverick: the perfect truck for the city.” Then they show somebody hauling a full bed of 20 potted plants that would easily fit in a Honda Fit.
Well first off they don’t sell Honda Fits in the USA anymore. Second, the hybrid Maverick gets better gas mileage than a Fit. So who cares if what they show can be done with a smaller vehicle?
Having hauled stuff in a hatchback, it’s not always about cubic feet. It’s a lot easier to hose out the back of a Maverick than it is a Honda Fit.
Yeah for products like this to be possible, they have to stop wasting money on zombie brands like Lancia or Fiat in North America.
But they insist on throwing good money after bad while at the same time starving Dodge and Chrysler for product.
DAKOTA.
Seriously the Dakota was an AWEOSOME midsize truck that sold GREAT until the styling made it look terrible with the 3rd gen. Look at the sales, 1st gen was great, 2nd was a HUGE success, then it tanked because design by committe/early 00s terribleness.
There’s only the modern problem of co-opting a Native American tribal name to get in the way of it.
Stellantis doesn’t care, as evidenced by their current car named after a Native American tribe.
Contrarian take: These CUV-based pickups are going to be a short-lived form factor, just like the small commercial vans were in the US. I’ll give it the same 10-15 years.
The Transit Connect and ProMaster City were great vehicles. Okay, the Nissan NV200 was hot garbage, but the form factor was useful for trades and small businesses. But the whole market lasted with enough volume and profit for about 13 years, and now it is gone. I predict the market for these pickups will do the exact same thing.
Those vans were hampered by the jealous 25% tariff. They were killed off around the time they were fined for evading it. Yet, Ford still supports the tariff, meaning they learned absolutely nothing.
Then there was the “inflation” gouging, forced uptrading, eliminating lower-priced cars entirely.
Ford was going to release a diesel Transit Connect, but they couldn’t figure out a way to meet the overly strict emissions standards without cheating.
Ford imported passenger versions straight from Turkey (later Spain) with no problem, as the 25% shit only applies to cargo vans and pickups.
Chrysler didn’t want to sell passenger Promaster City vans with 3 rows of seats and windows because they were jealous that it would steal sales from the more-expensive Pacifica.
I really doubt the ProMaster City would have stolen sales from the Pacifica. Most buyers would have wanted the V6 and extra cargo space of the typical minivan and Chrysler has about the best setup for switching from people to cargo carrying with Stow-n-Go.
For most of the City’s run, Dodge still had the Journey and Grand Caravan in the same showroom that were at least a couple grand cheaper just on MSRP, and the Caravan had a V6 standard.
Also worth noting as an asterisk about the whole commercial van comparison, Ford and Fiat don’t build their own versions of those small commercial vans any longer even in the Euro market, so a lot of the timing is arguably more coincidental. The Transit Connect is a version of the VW Caddy, and the Fiat Doblo is a Citroën Berlingo. VW probably wouldn’t allow Ford to sell it, and neither were likely designed to meet U.S. regulations – especially the Berlingo since the current one dates back years before Stellantis existed.
Ford and VW have been doing a lot together recently (like the next Ranger/Amarok)
The current Berlingo was released before Stellantis existed, but it’s not exactly an old platform. Also, the Transit Connect wasn’t designed for the US at the beginning, either. It came out in 2002, though we didn’t get it until 2009. The Fiat Doblo had been out 5 years before they sold the Promaster City here.
It can be done, if they really want to, but they don’t. Detroit doesn’t like making cars. They like making excuses. Ford (USA) HATES being reminded that they make anything other than the F150.
Yes, but if VW doesn’t intend to sell the Caddy here themselves it’s unlikely they are going to let Ford do it either. If Ford doesn’t even have the business case to build their own van in a market that does buy them it’s no surprise they’re not making a case for it here.
Ford and FCA saw an opportunity to Americanise those vans for the U.S. then as they globalized more of their product lines. But now, even beyond the consolidation of production between a few manufacturers for the vans, the demands for those and a lot of segments seem to be divulging. Europe has leaned more into electrification for commercial vehicles whereas that will take much longer for that to be the case here. Plus the midsize pickup offerings seem to now be cheaper than the vans, even if they’re different form factors still something to consider for fleets.
Nobody wants to drive a white cargo van around, except for vanlifers which those small vans were too small for anyway. Plenty of normal people drive 4 passenger trucks and have done so for decades now. I live near and drive past a huge Ford dealership and the Transit Connect was only ever stocked at the commercial fleet lot.
The last shot; the tailgate. All I can see is a thin capital G with an American flag as the cap-stroke. I find it hard to believe that’s not deliberate.
You’re telling us it’s not coming here?
Just add blue reverse lights
Let us get a grip. There is a fine line between more competition to lower prices and too much competition so noone is making money so noone keeps making it. Do we really think there is no demand for cars anymore? But there was just thousands of options noone could make a buck. I bet the few left making sedans and coupes will do great once supply train gets caught up.
Probably, yeah. Taking a huge share of a declining, but still pretty large, market is often a recipe for printing money.
Why buy a sedan when you can buy a truck that gets the same mileage, holds more, can go offroad better, sits upright and is the same price?
Bog standard front wheel drive sedans are just as boring to drive anyway. Your Mazda 3 is not a RWD sports car you dork.
Saw a RAM 700 by the CLE airport on Mar 29. Have two pics I took while driving (I know it’s dumb, but I had to Google that shit). If brought immediately every auto parts store would buy them all up, and I would too.
Was going to bring this up. Saw one in Mexico on a trip and swore out loud. VW has something similar as well. I would snap one of those up in a hot, sweaty second.
I’m surprised a CDJR product actually got that drivetrain in the US at all. It’s been in the Compass and Renegade (they desperately need it) in the EU for years at this point. The fact that Dodge gets it in the Hornet amazing.
Their best plan of attack would be to take from both trucks: base FWD hybrid, Compass tuned 2.0T, and then Hornet/Cherokee tuned 2.0T. From there, you’d have a Maverick hybrid fighter, a base Santa Cruz engine option, and “powerful” top engine choice. Offer a PHEV model easily with that 1.3T/PSA 6 speed automatic.
But they won’t. They’re only planning on a mid-size truck for the US, while the Rampage stays compact and out of our market, which I’m not opposed to, because that thing just looks wrong.
As others have noted, the Ram 700 could be a more desirable choice for market penetration because it already offers at least two things that neither the Maverick or Santa Cruz do: it’s a smaller, true compact truck and it’s available in either a 2-door or 4-door configuration. Not to mention a competitive bed size and payload (at least on the 2-door) and manual transmission. It doesn’t (currently) offer all-wheel drive or a hybrid set-up, however. That doesn’t bother me at all; as a former owner of an original Rampage I found it more than sufficient to my needs. The proposed vehicle in the article is much closer to a Dakota than the Rampage. Anyhow, I’d welcome a true compact truck vs. the Maverick or Santa Cruz. I think the Ram 700 sells for less than $13,000 US and it could be gussied up a lot for the US and still come in under either the Ford or Hyundai.
They can’t fight the Maverick, at least not successfully. They cannot or at least will not build a Hybrid drivetrain that gets as good of gas mileage as the Maverick’s hybrid drivetrain, and PHEVs are plain bad.
If I was Ram I’d build a short range BEV drivetrain with a tiny ICE generator. That way you get the advantages of the BEV drivetrain with the Range of ICE and the quick time to refuel (when needed). PHEVs in general are just a half assed attempt to add electricity to the drivetrain and usually it nets a few MPG over the non hybrid models at the cost of a heavier and much more complex drivetrain and a hybrid battery that has no BEV range while taking up a ton of space. PHEVs need to make like the Dodo and die out, range extended BEVs make much more sense.
Toyota can definitely beat Ford at their own game but they’re very conservative in how they do things which usually means Ford is first to market and they just hope the recalls don’t eat too much into the price while Toyota is still testing.
I think Toyota WILL make a better Maverick IF they chose to make one, and with how much Ford is dropping the ball on Maverick production numbers (especially for the Hybrid) Toyota still has a shot.
As widely covered on this here website, that’s a bad take. As long as battery scarcity remains a thing, prioritizing 15-20kwh packs that cover a huge proportion of actual daily trips is a much better net use of resources than giving everyone 80+kwh packs that they don’t fully utilize regularly.
By short range I mean sub 40KWH. I see no reason why a 15-20kWH battery pack could not work for a BEV with a proper ICE generator.
ICE drivetrains are inherently inefficient, BEV drivetrains are usually extremely efficient. It makes more sense to have an ICE engine as a generator than it does to have an ICE engine do the driving. An ICE engine optimized for running at a set RPM will run a lot longer than one that goes up and down through the rev range often, same goes for a BEV transmission VS an ICE transmission.
ICE generators driving electric motors are what we’ve been using on freight trains for years and for good reason.
You basically just said “PHEVs suck, they should make it a PHEV.”
There are, naturally, lots of variants on the form but what you’re describing is a Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle in the same mold as things like David Tracy’s i3.
The i3 with the “range extender” is a BEV with a generator
PHEVs are ICE based and that’s what makes them bad, you get all the inefficiency and complication of an ICE drivetrain, but with extra complication and weight via shoehorning an electric motor and battery in there, usually only netting less than a 5 MPG improvement over the ICE only variant.
The Chicken Tax is 25%, is there any chance a Brazilian Rampage can be built cheaply enough to still have a competitive MSRP on the US market, if maybe the base trim is barely stocked in dealers and sold as a loss leader?
CKD/Mexico 😉
Yep, that’s it, mostly build in Brazil, do the final screwing together in a USMCA country, worked for Daimler with the Sprinter and doesn’t require setting up an entire duplicate plant
If it loOked more truck like them yea….otherwise keep it there
Austrailia is like: “It’s a fucking Ute!”
They call normal pickups utes, too.
And girls are called Sheila, even if their name isn’t Sheila.
My daughter drives a first-year hybrid Maverick, and it’s a wonderful vehicle–even with the expected first-year recalls and nonsense. I’m impressed every time I’m in the truck. I think there’s a space in the market for an even smaller hybrid pickup that fits in garages more easily than the Maverick. Not a huge difference, but 6-8 inches shorter. Maybe no back seat, just some kind of in-cabin storage would enable that type of change.
Regardless, I can’t believe that Ford came up with an attractive, affordable, fuel-efficient, practical vehicle and expected demand to be low. Should tell you everything about the state of the US car market right now.
Dodge’s marketing manager as a young lad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYsAE2HK0FA
What took them so long?
Also, bring over the Ram 700 and Ram 1200 too 😀
PAMPAGE!!!!!!!!!
I would consider ownership of a Rampage for this, and other Archer related shouting of Rampage.
If I owned one I would find a way to have it play out-loud on external speakers, archer yelling “rampage” every time I started it.
GIVE US THE SMALL TRUCKS
Cosigned.
ALL OF THEM
I just want a single-cab long bed small pickup.
It won’t happen, of course, but I can dream.
That’s why I’m still driving my ’02 Ranger single-cab/7′ bed. It’s slow, gets pretty bad mileage for its size, and is fairly devoid of options, but it fits everywhere, is easy to zip around in traffic and you can put 8′ 2×4’s diagonally in the bed and shut the tailgate. Nothing hanging out anywhere, no weird devices that try to extend a meager cargo area, just huck your shit into the bed and slam the tailgate.
I’d love a new truck, but nobody in the US wants to take my money.
I still say that unibody pickups are not Trucks (I call them pickups like the VW Rabbit Pickup) that being said we definitely need more small automobiles in general.
Blame the Footprint rule and the Chicken Tax.