While the electric truck had a typical Ram look, the new Dodge Durango concept was drastically different than the current SUV
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by Sebastien Bell
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The Carscoops illustrations in this article are unofficial and speculative, and not endorsed by RAM
While small- and mid-size pickup trucks have been seeing something of a renaissance, Ram has been notably absent from the segment since the Dakota was discontinued in 2011. That might not last much longer, as the automaker showed its American dealers a glimpse of a future mid-size pickup truck based on Stellantis’ all-electric STLA platform alongside a Dodge Durango Concept
Both studies were displayed at a recent dealer conference in Las Vegas and at least one audience member, Randy Dye, came away from it convinced that the new Ram truck will be “the future” for the Ram brand.
Dye was Stellantis’ dealer council chairman in 2022, and he told Autonews that the concept was “spectacular,” and will share an aesthetic link to the Ram Revolution Concept. That’s something he’s not convinced every automaker in the segment gets right.
More: 2024 Ram 1500 REV Electric Truck Unveiled, Lacks Concept’s Drama
“Without a doubt, it looks like a Ram,” said Dye. “I look at some of the other midsize offerings in the market, and I’m not going to pick on the individual brands, but I don’t think they always favor their mother brand. The midsize ones have seemed to get away, and they don’t look the same. This is very much a Ram.”
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Dodge Durango Concept Looks Drastically Different Than Today’s Model
In addition to the pickup, Stellantis also showed dealers a Dodge Durango concept. That show car was described as being drastically different to the model on sale today, which has been on the market since 2011. Dye said the new model was “representative of a changing market” and more in line with “what people are looking for.”
In an effort to convey the wider Stellantis Group’s plans for the future, CEO Carlos Tavares took the time to explain its EV ambitions to the dealers. They were shown more than 30 new electric products that the empire has planned for global markets.
“There was not an attempt to force [electrification] down anybody’s throat, really, rather than get people to understand,” Dye said. “You absolutely would have walked away from that, if you paid attention, and you were awake, [with a] different mindset about what EV really means.”
Dye, for one, was convinced that the rise of the electric era will not mean a return to the malaise era of American manufacturing. At that time, environmental requirements choked muscle cars and stole horsepower from the nation’s big vehicles. He’s convinced that EVs will help avoid that, not perpetuate it.
“I think what a lot of people are afraid of is that we’re going to go back into the ’80s when the performance car business just didn’t exist, and that’s not what this is about,” said Dye. “As a matter of fact, numberwise, I would tell you that probably a lot of the EV platforms are better performing than the gas.”
More: Imagining An Electric Successor To The Dodge Durango SUV
