The US pickup specialist locked in plans for a ‘baby brother’ to the 1500 earlier this year, with its smaller ute understood to be similarly sized to the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux, the two best-selling vehicles in their class.
While some speculation centred around the as-yet unnamed Ram being underpinned by a car-like, monocoque chassis – similar to the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz – specialist publication Mopar Insiders reports it’ll be body-on-frame, as with the overwhelming majority of utes in the market.
The outlet hasn’t provided details of the ladder-frame platform, only claiming its insider sources have acknowledged Ram understands the demands of its mid-sized pickup couldn’t be served with a monocoque.
In addition to it being a body-on-frame ute, the sources reportedly confirmed it’ll be a dual-cab, again like the best-selling versions of Australia’s popular utes.
We don’t yet know much about the model, however it’s likely to revive the long-dead Dakota name – last sold in 2011 – and be built at Ram’s Belvidere plant in Illinois, set to reopen in 2027 after being idled indefinitely in early 2023.
It’s not yet known if the Ram ute will be built on an ground-up platform or use the underpinnings from an existing Stellantis group vehicle. One such model is the Jeep Gladiator, which is also underpinning by a body-on-frame platform.
However, the big question is what engine will power the vehicle. While US buyers overwhelmingly prefer petrol power – even in much larger pickups, where it’s available – the turbo-diesel is a mainstay of Australia’s ute market.
If the new Ram ute was based on the Jeep Gladiator, engine options include a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol, a naturally aspirated 3.6-litre V6 petrol, and a 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel, though the latter was dropped from the lineup in late 2023 due to poor demand globally.
In Australia, the only three utes sold with petrol power are the Ford Ranger Raptor and plug-in hybrid, flagship versions of the Volkswagen Amarok (which sell in fewer numbers than the diesel), and plug-in hybrid versions of the BYD Shark 6 and GWM Cannon Alpha.
While the upcoming model was initially due to be launched as an electric vehicle, a cooling of global demand – especially for battery-powered pickups – led to its combustion-powered switch.
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