We as a society place huge value on nostalgia. New TV shows set in decades past, the bizarre idolization of drinking from the hose, and a degree of reverence for car model names that you won’t see on a showroom floor anymore. We put on our rose-tinted spectacles when we hear these names because they remind us of a different time. Not always better, but certainly different. Perhaps this level of personal meaning is why the internet was up in arms over models like the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross and the unibody Chevrolet Blazer crossover. This time though, enthusiasts ardent that a revived nameplate should follow the purpose of the original should be in for a treat. Not only is Ram getting its first SUV as its own brand, it’s going to wear the Ramcharger name.
The story of the Ramcharger starts in 1969, when Chevrolet fired a salvo that would shape the SUV market for decades to come. After seeing the Jeep CJ, Ford Bronco, and International Scout carve out a new niche, the General made a bet to go bigger. It chopped down a full-size pickup truck frame, crafted a two-door body with a removable roof, and the original K5 Blazer was born. It was a hit, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Chrysler—then not yet the owners of Jeep—noticed. By the early 1970s, Mopar started work on something internally called the Rhino. It followed a similar blueprint to the K5 Blazer, chopping down a half-ton pickup truck into a short-wheelbase SUV. In 1974, the original Ramcharger was born, and it quickly became a cult classic.
Sadly, the two-door SUV craze didn’t last forever. By the late 1980s, buyers got a taste of four-door practicality and generally weren’t going back. The Ramcharger bowed out of the U.S. market after 1993, although it would soldier on for another eight years and one more generation in Mexico. That last generation was gloriously strange, by the way. Grand Caravan taillights, how about that?
Flash forward to early 2025, and the Ramcharger name was back. Not as an SUV, but as a range-extender hybrid version of the half-ton pickup truck. With a Pentastar V6 acting as a generator, it would be a long-distance towing-optimized counterpart to the planned Ram 1500 REV electric pickup. A few months late in October, Automotive News reported that a Ram SUV was coming in 2028, and that:
The SUV, to be assembled in Warren, Mich., will be offered with two powertrain options: gasoline-only and range-extended hybrid. The midsize pickup will be built in Toledo, Ohio.
Hmm. You know what else is built in Warren, Michigan, with a gasoline engine or an incoming range-extender hybrid powertrain? The Jeep Grand Wagoneer. It makes sense when you consider how the Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Wagoneer ride on the same body-on-frame platform and share powertrains. At the time, we mused over what Ram’s SUV would be called. After all, Ramcharger was taken by a hybrid pickup truck, right?
Ah. Remember Ram’s “Premature Electrification” Super Bowl ad? Turns out that was prescient for the entire segment. Sales of electric pickup trucks just never took off the way manufacturers expected, so Ram switched plans. No more EV, the range-extender hybrid became the REV, leaving the future of the Ramcharger name in question. It turns out, we didn’t have to wait that long to learn more. On Thursday’s investor call, the company officially announced plans for a new Ram SUV wearing a familiar name.
Yep, the Ramcharger has sort of come full circle. From SUV to defunct to hybrid truck back to SUV, it seems like nature is healing. Plus, there’s going to be a high-output SRT version for those who want some additional excitement. The only real question remaining is: If the Ramcharger ends up being twinned to the biggest Jeep on sale, what would this mean for the Grand Wagoneer? In theory, the Ramcharger could adopt off-roady trims we’ve already seen in the Ram lineup, like Rebel, leaving the Grand Wagoneer to pursue its custom-build house, Uber Black sorta-premium mission. At the same time, there could be some overlap between top-trim Ramchargers and the Grand Wagoneer. Could that result in cannibalization? Perhaps, but if the image is different enough, it might work.
Last year, our rogue designer, The Bishop, actually envisioned what a full-size Ram SUV would look like, and the overall look of his renderings just make sense. This feels like something that could already be on sale, an absolute no-brainer when it comes to filling out a product portfolio. While it’s unlikely a production model would adopt the flourish of quarter windows that wrap over the roof rails, one can dream, right?
Either way, the Ramcharger is going to be an SUV again, and while there’s no word yet on features of the original like a removable roof or a console ice chest returning, it should give Ram something for buyers who don’t want a bed. Assuming the project’s still on track for 2028, expect to hear a whole lot more about this thing in the next two years.
Top graphic images: Stellantis
As an owner of an ‘87 specimen, I deeply approve of this.
I want to know what’s up with that Wrangler Scrambler under wraps in the picture.
There was something about that elsewhere around here the other day, though I suspect that is just one of the annual Jeep Jamboree special editions that get pictured and then go into the ether.
Honestly I would be fine with the gladiator if they just moved the rear wheels about a foot farther back and lopped off the overhang as a result.
Well at least it has real door handles.
This will sell if they get the price right and restyle it to look different from the IMO ugly Wagoneer. That was the two things that did that model in.
Looking back historically Chrysler not competing in this segment is a sign of inept management. I know when Bob Lutz ran the show back in the 90s he really wanted a Suburban/Tahoe fighter based on the hot new full size Dodge pickup. Said they couldnt figure out how to meet the CAFE requirement, which sounds like they maybe should have told their engineers to sharpen their pencils and give them some serious budget to figure it out. The v8 in the truck line was still the same outdated 1960s era LA v8.
My friend that works at Stellantis told me this was coming and I was naive enough to think it would be a two-door. For shame!
I mean, its just going to be the Wangoneer. Don’t get your hopes up.
Another great vehicle with a great name being ruined by using it on a generic 3 tow blob.
I never like the wrap up around rear windows of the 2nd gen Ramcharger, mopar fan that I am. I prefer the first gen Ramcharger. So I actually hope they DONT use that feature. I also hope they make the doors different enough that they don’t look like the windows were installed upside down. The Wagoneer door windows are sharp corners at the top, and rounded at the bottom, the inverse of normal design. I appreciate trying new things, but it didn’t work.
The up-wrap windows make for a great interior space! Excellent visibility on road trips, I can attest.
I loathe those windows on the second gen Ramcharger (and Bronco II) as well, but if this rendering is any indication, I think it could actually work on a Suburban-ish three-row, five-door SUV.
So we’ll have the Ram Ramcharger and the Ram Rampage.
I’m getting a Ferrari LaFerrari vibe.
I liked the deboss ram recharger term better. Maybe they will use that term. Ramcharger recharger phev erev sv
Ramcharger can steal sales from the tahoe class. Give us more options free, more premium feel for 10% less than a tahoe. (example- tahoe uses the same power windown switch as the Chevy Cruise. Make it look like the ones in a Lincoln Aviator’s. Have nice- distinct detents for window down and another click for express down.)
Isn’t that ford/Lincoln’s whole niche? The Ford expedition is slotted cheaper than a Suburban, and the Lincoln is cheaper than a Cadillac.
My 2014 Sportwagen has auto up/down switches for every window in the car, it seriously can’t cost that much less. This is what I appreciate about Lincoln as of late, they’re doing more of their own thing and upgrading a lot of touchpoints.
Stellantis couldn’t survive just selling EV’s? Release the Hounds!
Release the Hybrids, it was right there. You also have the Hydra a great name for a car.
Killing a pedestrian near you, 2028!
Probably not, even if these are released in 2028 they will be in such low numbers that it is likely they won’t kill any pedestrians in 2028. In fact of the more than 100 million vehicles only a few thousand pedestrians are killed per year. Statistically it might be more than a decade before it happens.
So it’s just a Grand Wagoneer, but more befitting of the DUI crowd? Did I get that correct?
Last verse, same as the first?
Or . . . Bring back the Charger, have RAM sell it, istead of Dodge, and, voila, instant RAM Charger! 😉
Only someone who’s never drank from a (proper metal fitting and vinyl construction) hose would say that. Suburban artesian springs!
If I can get a front bench and height adjustable air suspension I’ll seriously consider getting one
you’re absolutely not getting a front bench, but you will likely get the air suspension
Well provided they built it right at the factory my 1500 Big Horn which was optioned with both will.
Ram says it’ll arrive at the dealership by the end of the month
You could just get the Concorde from earlier this week and drive it over some train tracks…
A split bench seat is preferred if you ever want your wife to drive home from the bar as the designated driver.
Ram Ramcharger. Ram Rampage.
Woah, Black Betty, Ram-a-Ram…
I prefer the amberlamps version of that song.
I wish I could find the picture but someone once took an old surplus ambulance to convert to a camper or something but gave it an ambulance looking livery with Amberlamps written instead of Ambulance.
That is awesome haha
I think I saw one of those YouTube tour videos of it. I knew a firefighter paramedic who was in a band and also obsessed with the Joe vs deer thing. He got an old ambulance for hauling their gear and had “bambulance” on it.
Freiberger had the Whambulance
Looks like the Canyonero
“Introducing the 2030 Ramcharger Canyonero Edition!
“When you press the horn, it goes “D’oh!”
Have you got anything without (sp)
ram?Well, there’s(sp)
ram eggs sausage and (sp)ram, that’s not got much (sp)ram in itI don’t want any (sp)
ram…The Mexican market Ramcharger did not use Caravan tail lights, only the Caravan rear hatch. This comes up so frequently in the many FB car groups I’m part of that I actually created an image with the Ramcharger and Caravan tail lights side by side to prove they’re not the same. </nerd>
I’m glad you mentioned this!!!
The fact, which I also wanted to mention when I read the article, that the 3rd gen used the caravan hatch kills me. It looks just that bit off in shape, almost like a video game car design.
This was one of my favorite vehicular easter eggs ever, it deserves mention here.
My bet is it’s just a badge-engineered, de-contented Wagoneer.
100%
This.
This is the safest bet you could make.
100% the same other than slapping the RAM front fascia, especially if crammed down the same line that builds the Grand wagoneer. They should really only make the RAM in the shorter wheelbase variant but probably won’t.
Wag Wagcharger
I mean, the Wagoneer starts at $60,000 and I assume they’ll position this below it since Jeep desperately wants to be perceived as upmarket. While the Wagoneer is bloated, over-contented, and gaudy, I assume they’d take a different approach with a RAM…and the actual bones of the Wagoneer are pretty damn good.
Honestly….a basest spec imaginable Ramcharger with like, cloth bench seats and either the Hurricane 6 or EREV powertrain in the 50s would be a really good buy considering by the time you get to the dealership a low spec Tahoe, Expedition, Sequoia, etc. is a $70,000+ proposition.
…but would they actually build it? Probably not.
Gotta have a nice column shifter for that bench seat. Don’t feed us those dial-a-transmissions.
Yup… but that’s okay just as long as the lack of content also means it’s substantially cheaper.
What if they just put a Ram badge on the front of the Durango?
I expect not. The current Durango is unibody, so building it in the Wagoneer Factory doesn’t make a ton of sense. And Ram/Dodge would DEFINITELY result in cannibalization, where there is at least some chance Ram/Jeep will not.
This makes so much sense as a tow vehicle. The bed on my RAM is so small from a length and height standpoint that it isn’t that useful. I’d much rather have a truck based SUV to tow my camper. I hope they make it a split tailgate so that it can be opened when hooked up to a trailer.
Hopefully the SRT Ramcharger will be the TRX SUV. I’m also shocked that Ford has yet to make an Expedition Raptor
I’m also surprised GM doesn’t make a hotted up Tahoe/Suburban SS. Maybe to protect the Escalade V