It’s amazing what can change in three years. Flash back to 2023, and Ram was getting ready to nix the V8 entirely from its half-ton lineup. Dodge was discontinuing the lairy Charger and Challenger for a new EV-first model, and it felt like the party had finally died at Auburn Hills. Turns out, someone stashed a keg in the basement and now that Carlos Tavares is gone, it’s keg stands for everyone. Welcome to the 2027 Ram 1500 Rumble Bee, the closest thing to a brand new Charger Hellcat you can buy.
While Ram did co-release the Fox Factory Vehicles-built 650-horsepower 1500 Direct Connection street truck back in October, that thing was something of a teaser. This Rumble Bee is anything but; this is Ram going hog-deep into the street truck market with the heart of an absolute beast.
Specifically, the Rumble Bee SRT gets a 6.2-liter Hellcat supercharged V8 boosted to 777 horsepower, same as in the revived TRX. Ram claims zero-to-60 mph in 3.4 seconds, the quarter-mile in 11.6 seconds at 116 MPH, and a top speed of 170 MPH. As far as I can tell, this makes the Rumble Bee SRT the fastest production pickup truck in the world. Boom! Doesn’t that just make you want to teach a bald eagle to chain-smoke Marlboros?
Mind you, even though Ram hasn’t released pricing, the Rumble Bee SRT is going to be expensive. Thank goodness there are two more powertrains to choose from. That’s right, you’ll be able to get the Rumble Bee with either the 395-horsepower 5.7-liter V8 from the regular Ram 1500 or a 470-horsepower 6.4-liter naturally aspirated V8 that you might remember from the Dodge Challenger Scat Pack.
Although the former is more show than go with a claimed zero-to-60 mph time of 6.1 seconds, the 392 model should do the dash in 5.2 seconds. That’s more like it. Oh, and regardless of which engine you choose, you can lock the Rumble Bee in rear-wheel-drive should you wish to turn up to your local sanctioned burnout competition and cord a set of rear tires, or do a burnout before lining up for a four-wheel-drive launch down the drag strip.
If you want to go around corners, you’ll want to step up to the Rumble Bee 392 Scat Pack or the Rumble Bee SRT. Both those trims gain air springs, Bilstein adaptive dampers, a dedicated track mode that allows a little slip, 325-section rear tires, and enormous 16.1-inch front discs clamped by six-piston calipers. Given the sheer mass of the thing and all-season tires, a claimed 0.89g around the skid pad is entirely respectable. Oh, and while an asymmetric limited-slip differential will be available on naturally aspirated models, later on, the 392 Track Pack and SRT trims get a push-button rear locker for truly silly slides.
Now granted, some of you will be disappointed that the new Rumble Bee isn’t a regular cab short-bed special like the last Rumble Bee, which was available in 2004 and 2005. I hear you, but Ram has done some serious work here. It started with a Quad Cab (that’s Ram parlance for extended cab) model then chopped 13 inches out of the frame right behind the B-pillars. The result is a claimed 10 percent reduction in frame flex and the next-closest thing to an RCSB truck out there, an extended cab short (five-foot seven-inch) bed model. From there, Ram added a proper set of overfenders that boost overall width to 88 inches, bolted on a set of 22-inch wheels, and dropped the thing low. On top of that, Rumble Bee 392 Track and SRT models get an actual street truck body kit, with the SRT also gaining 325-section rear tires. If the opening riff to “Kickstart My Heart” didn’t play in your head as soon as you saw this thing, I don’t know what to tell you.
If you’re looking for something sensible in this sea of glorious madness, something that might make this a legitimate business vehicle, you’re in luck. Unlike the endearingly unhinged Ram SRT-10 of the mid-aughts, the new Rumble Bee is still rated to be used as a truck. We’re talking up to 8,890 pounds of towing capacity and up to 1,160 pounds of payload capacity, so you could theoretically tow your Viper to the track in a Rumble Bee SRT. Or pull around lawncare equipment. Or whatever.
Plus, you can pretty much have a Rumble Bee as fancy or as basic as you like. The cheapest trims come with manual cloth seats, whereas loaded examples get a 19-speaker Harman Kardon sound system, suede and leather upholstery, a 14.5-inch infotainment screen, and carbon fiber trim. It seems like Ram’s targeting street truck lovers with all sorts of budgets, which bodes well for actually seeing these things in the wild.
Actually, the first Ram 1500 Rumble Bees you see will be the slow ones. The 5.7-liter V8 model will arrive in showrooms by the end of the year, with the 6.4-liter and Hellcat-powered SRT models coming in the first half of 2027. On first glance, it’s going to be worth the wait. Yeah it’s wasteful, yeah it’s unnecessary, yeah it’s ridiculous and outrageous and probably an indictment of the genre. And you know what? I love it. Street trucks are so back, baby.
Top graphic image: Ram
Very Glad they are offering these with All Wheel Peal.
Sweet, and aggressively American, set of trucks. I’m surprised Stellantis spent all that money tooling up a bunch of expensive new sheetmetal for the shorter cab.
Wow, this thing is so awesome!
Is that the optional wifi drive shaft in the overhead shot of the chassis?
So it’s basically a dropped TRX?
That’s actually kinda smart considering most trucks never see dirt.
Ignoring the insanity, the drop ironically makes it a better work vehicle. Better road manners, and easier to load stuff into the bed.
For those complaining about the lack of a regular cab, this looks to give you the same or similar wheelbase. All RCSB trucks use a 6.5” bed- the same as the extended cab. This truck pairs the extended cab with the 5.7” bed usually found on the crew cab.. I don’t think we’ve ever seen that combination before.
I’ve actually seen pictures of a custom regular cab TRX, and it looked hilariously short and wide. Probably not ideal for a vehicle with such a high top speed.
those guys would never buy one anyway. this is for the Challenger Hellcat people that cannot get over the 6 pack set up on the new Charger.
Agreed. This is very much not a truck for the Autopian audience.
Yay so in 3-5 years these will be ripping around my neighborhood instead of Chargers and any chance of the drivers seeing a child run into the street will be completely gone…
I’m going to get boo’d by the crowd. But can I get this with a crewcab?