RAM News

It’s official - Ram has pulled the plug on its fully electric pick-up before it even made it to showrooms.

Ram is preparing to return to the midsized ute market globally, to take on the Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, BYD Shark 6, Isuzu D-Max and more, with Australia looming front-and-centre. Expected to resuscitate the long-dormant Dakota badge when it debuts possibly as early as next year, the one-tonne pick-up range will slip underneath the full-sized DT-series 1500 Hurricane dual-cab series in both size and price.

Ram is considering a V8 comeback for Australia’s best-selling full-sized American ute, which might include the return of the TRX high-performance flagship.

To borrow a line from Mark Twain, reports of the death of the V8 engine are greatly exaggerated.

Will the Ram 1500 Big Horn turn into the 1500 Warlock instead as the big US truck value opener? With the introduction of the DT Series II “Hurricane” facelift earlier in 2025, the old Big Horn from $119,950 has not yet been replaced, leaving the Laramie Sport as well as newly-released Rebel that both commence at $141,950 as the 1500 range entry points. But with comparatively slow sales of the superseded version (despite being the last of the Hemi V8s – for now), it appears that a completely different grade is in the pipeline, to slip in between. Yet to be confirmed for Australia, the expected new Warlock grade would be a comparatively affordable and more youth-orientated take on the ‘cheapest’ Ram 1500.

Stellantis, parent company of Jeep, Ram, Peugeot and Leapmotor, has reportedly put its ‘AutoDrive’ self-driving software on hold over concerns there is no demand for it among buyers.

Ram predicts its latest big ute will be a best-seller in its range.

Ram has been teasing a new mid-size pick-up for years now and it’s still yet to come to fruition.Speculatively called the Dakota, which revives a name previously used by the US pick-up company, this mid-size pick-up (what we would call a ute) was initially teased in 2021 with the unibody STLA Large platform set to underpin it.However, Mopar Insiders now reports the Ram Dakota will be based on a body-on-frame platform.This makes it a more direct rival to the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux, among other North American mid-size pickups like the Chevrolet Colorado, Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier.It’s unclear what type of body-on-frame platform the Dakota will receive. It could have a shrunken version of the body-on-frame architecture that underpins the larger Ram 1500, or perhaps a version of the Jeep Gladiator’s body-on-frame platform.Another option is the STLA Frame architecture which will underpin the Ram 1500 Ramcharger range-extender (REEV) and 1500 REV electric pick-up will be scaled down for the mid-sized Dakota.Mopar Insiders indicates production of the new Ram Dakota will begin in 2027 at the company’s production plant in Belvidere, Illinois. It’ll only be made as a dual-cab.As previously reported, a Ram spokesperson told US outlet Hagerty that the Dakota will “take full advantage” of the company’s “multi-energy strategy”. This means it’ll likely offer internal-combustion (ICE), plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and battery electric (BEV) powertrain options.At this stage the company hasn’t publicly disclosed any technical information, but Ram no longer offers diesel powertrains, which likely rules this out for the Dakota.Also, the potential of a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain could see it go up against the BYD Shark 6, GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV and Ford Ranger PHEV.We’re yet to see what this Ram mid-size pick-up will actually look like. It’s expected spied prototypes will be on the road soon, but in the meantime digital renders give us an indication of what to expect.The Dakota will likely only be produced in left-hand drive from the factory, though it could be remanufactured to right-hand drive for the Australian market through its partnership with Walkinshaw.“A mid-size ute is on our wish list for Ram in Australia,” said Ram Trucks Australia General Manager Jeff Barber earlier this year.“We think it would be a great fit for Australia.”

Ryan Walkinshaw himself explains how one of the brand's most controversial HSV models was the springboard for local re-manufacturing.

The GMC Yukon Denali is the latest arrival in a continuing US vehicular invasion of Australia. Imported here as left-hand drive and then converted to a right-hander, the Denali is a big 4WD wagon with eight seats, a petrol V8 engine and a standard features list as long as LeBron James’s arm.Brought to our shores by General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV), the Denali is a premium-style vehicle; massive, comfortable and, as an eight-seat 4WD wagon, it has few rivals in the Aussie market. But it lacks a competitive warranty, its price-tag puts it way out of reach of a lot of 4WD buyers, and for a few distinct reasons it is a sterling example why US wagons and utes don’t belong in Australia.It’s too big.It’s big. Even the signature Denali grille – with LED headlights and chrome accents – is the size of a tiny house. The 2025 Denali is 5337mm long (with a 3071mm wheelbase), 2378mm wide, 1943mm high, and it has a kerb weight of 2813kg.The interior is great because it is big, roomy and occupant friendly, but the Denali’s gargantuan exterior dimensions simply mean it’s a beast of burden in busy city or suburban streets, and even on bush tracks, which can be quite narrow.The Denali demands to be driven with supreme consideration – and even more patience, more skill, and more experience than smaller four-wheel drives require – in order to avoid city- or bush-related damage, incidental or otherwise.Also, worth remembering is that fact that no matter how good a driver you are, there’s always a shopping trolley, key-wielding person who hates big vehicles, or someone who only parks their car by ‘touching’ the vehicle nearest to them out there, waiting to ding/scratch/dent your US behemoth. You’ve been warned.It’s not built for Australian conditions.The Denali is imported to Australia as a left-hand drive vehicle and then Walkinshaw's subsidiary company Premoso remanufactures the US 4WD wagons to right-hand drive at their facility in Clayton, Victoria. But the problems aren’t with Premoso’s work – they’ve done an impressive job – the flaws are in the vehicle’s original design and build.For one, as mentioned, it’s big. If you aren't used to steering a tank-sized 4WD around town then driving the Denali is going to be a very steep – and possibly very expensive – learning curve.Two, it’s built for open-road cruising on US freeways; it’s not engineered to cope with our punishing dirt-road corrugations of Australia, or our extreme heat, or our poorly maintained backroads and bush tracks.Thirdly, the Denali lacks the prestige fit and finish and build quality usually showcased in something at this price-point. Instead, there is hard plastic throughout, storage receptacles with flimsy lids, and lacklustre fit and finish.Also, this Denali is on 24-inch rims and paper-thin Bridgestone all-season tyres (285/40R24), which is not a wheel-and-tyre package suited to anything other than driving on the blacktop. These tyres don’t offer the grip of a decent all-terrain tyre and you can’t drop air pressures because there isn’t enough tyre there.The Denali has a naturally-aspirated 6.2-litre V8 petrol engine – producing 313kW and 624Nm – and that’s matched to a 10-speed automatic transmission.This is a great vehicle to drive on-road for general day-to-day driving duties – settled and composed – and it’s close to flawless on the open road, smooth and refined, but that big V8 – as great as it sounds – has the potential to drink … a lot.The Denali’s air suspension – which aims to level out even major imperfections in the road or track surface – and its special dampers aren’t as effective or as seamless a system as the Patrol/Patrol Warrior’s Hydraulic Body Motion Control, which acts as a sway bar and sway bar disconnect equivalent and is very impressive. Official fuel consumption is listed as 12.8L/100km (on a combined cycle), but on my most recent test of it, I recorded 16.2L/100km. Not too bad, all things considered, but you have to remember that I didn’t have much weight onboard and I wasn’t towing anything.The Denali has a 91L fuel tank so, going by my on-test fuel-consumption figure, you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 560km from a full tank. Once loaded up with real-world burdens (e.g kids, dogs, camping gear etc) then you’ll soon see the Denali’s fuel use climb.It’s expensive.The Denali has a price tag of $174,990 (excluding on-road costs), making it a lot more expensive than most vehicles that could be considered rivals in the Aussie market.Until now, if you’d been looking for an eight-seat 4WD wagon with a petrol V8 engine, you'd be limited to considering something like a Nissan Patrol or a Land Rover Defender 130, but at least the Patrol is almost half the price of a Denali.Another thing, as mentioned earlier, the Denali does not have the high quality of fit and finish and build quality usually associated with vehicles that cost this much – that’s disappointing.And maximum braked towing capacity in the Denali is listed as 3628kg (when it has a 70mm ball and weight-distribution hitch) – which isn’t that much more than other large 4WD wagons or utes in Australia offer (3500kg maximum braked towing capacity).US utes and wagons are big, bloated, overpriced and underdone – and they should go back from whence they came.Cue the hate mail...