Kulvie
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Been waiting (hoping) for this news!
Ram's Officially Bringing Back The Rampage
https://www.theautopian.com/rams-of...dakota-in-a-bid-for-smaller-truck-domination/
May 21, 2026
For the past 15 years, fans of smaller-than-half-ton trucks haven’t had any options at their local Mopar dealerships. That’s about to change quickly. After years of hushed whispers, Ram has revealed on an investor call that it’s bringing both a compact and a midsize truck back to America in the next four years, and they’ll both wear names that ring a bell: Rampage and Dakota.
Let’s start with the Ram Rampage, Mopar’s much-anticipated Ford Maverick rival named after the gloriously strange Dodge Rampage ute of the ’80s. The current Rampage was joint-engineered between Stellantis Brazil and Stellantis USA and entered South American production in 2023. Riding on the same platform as the current Jeep Compass, the Rampage is 1.7-inches shorter yet 1.7 inches wider than Ford’s popular compact truck, and it comes with a powertrain already homologated in other U.S.-market models.
I’m talking about the GME T4 two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine found in the Dodge Hornet, Alfa Romeo Tonale, Jeep Compass, Jeep Wrangler, the list goes on. The current Rampage’s peak power figure of 268 horsepower is identical to the Hornet, and it even uses the familiar licensed-from-ZF 948TE nine-speed automatic transaxle.
It’s no surprise then, that Ram has confirmed that the Rampage we’ll be getting is pretty much identical to the South American model. So what’s taken so long? Well, the Chicken Tax and production capacity are both likely to blame. Back in 1965, America levied a 25 percent tariff on imported light trucks, and when you’re looking to play in a price-sensitive segment like the compact pickup truck market, adding 25 percent to the sticker price can put a model out of contention. The solution would be to build it in North America, although with the future of the USMCA agreement in doubt, building in the United States is probably the safest bet. Either way, tooling up takes time, and with plant diversions like shifting next-generation Jeep Compass production from Brampton, Canada to Belvidere, Ill., it seems like Mopar has been busy getting its ducks in a row.
Ram plans to have both of these trucks in American dealerships by 2030.
Ram's Officially Bringing Back The Rampage
https://www.theautopian.com/rams-of...dakota-in-a-bid-for-smaller-truck-domination/
May 21, 2026
For the past 15 years, fans of smaller-than-half-ton trucks haven’t had any options at their local Mopar dealerships. That’s about to change quickly. After years of hushed whispers, Ram has revealed on an investor call that it’s bringing both a compact and a midsize truck back to America in the next four years, and they’ll both wear names that ring a bell: Rampage and Dakota.
Let’s start with the Ram Rampage, Mopar’s much-anticipated Ford Maverick rival named after the gloriously strange Dodge Rampage ute of the ’80s. The current Rampage was joint-engineered between Stellantis Brazil and Stellantis USA and entered South American production in 2023. Riding on the same platform as the current Jeep Compass, the Rampage is 1.7-inches shorter yet 1.7 inches wider than Ford’s popular compact truck, and it comes with a powertrain already homologated in other U.S.-market models.
I’m talking about the GME T4 two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine found in the Dodge Hornet, Alfa Romeo Tonale, Jeep Compass, Jeep Wrangler, the list goes on. The current Rampage’s peak power figure of 268 horsepower is identical to the Hornet, and it even uses the familiar licensed-from-ZF 948TE nine-speed automatic transaxle.
It’s no surprise then, that Ram has confirmed that the Rampage we’ll be getting is pretty much identical to the South American model. So what’s taken so long? Well, the Chicken Tax and production capacity are both likely to blame. Back in 1965, America levied a 25 percent tariff on imported light trucks, and when you’re looking to play in a price-sensitive segment like the compact pickup truck market, adding 25 percent to the sticker price can put a model out of contention. The solution would be to build it in North America, although with the future of the USMCA agreement in doubt, building in the United States is probably the safest bet. Either way, tooling up takes time, and with plant diversions like shifting next-generation Jeep Compass production from Brampton, Canada to Belvidere, Ill., it seems like Mopar has been busy getting its ducks in a row.
Ram plans to have both of these trucks in American dealerships by 2030.