GM rival Stellantis is gearing up to launch an all-new unibody pickup truck under the Ram brand. The new pickup will be dubbed either the Ram Rampage or Ram 1200, and is known internally at Stellantis as Project 291. GM Authority exclusively reported that the upcoming Ram Rampage was being tested stateside, and now, we have new spy photos revealing a prototype undergoing testing in Michigan.
The Ram Rampage prototype is covered in swirling black-and-white camouflage, and also includes large blocky sections around the rear to hide the lines and body style. The goal of the fake body around the bed area is to make this prototype look like a crossover or an SUV.
All in, we know that this particular prototype is in fact Stellantis’ upcoming unibody pickup truck, the new Ram Rampage / Ram 1200.
Up front, the pickup is equipped with horizontally oriented headlight housings, which are punctuated by C-shaped lighting signatures and square inner lighting bits. The look definitely looks similar to that of the Ram 1500. The corners of the bumper appear to house some small fog lights, while horizontal breaks in the camo reveal large air intakes.
The side view reveals a four-door body, while the wheels are obscured by further black-and-white covers, although cuts in the wheel camo appear to show a black multi-spoke design. The placement of the roof-mounted antenna is the tell-tale sign that this model is actually a pickup. If the vehicle were, in fact, an SUV or pickup, then the roof-mounted antenna would be positioned closer to the rear of the vehicle, rather than in the middle – where the fin is actually placed. Given that the rear body work is fake, there simply is no way to place the fin there.
Viewed from the rear, twin rounded exhaust pipes are placed under the rear bumper, while vertical taillights can be seen peeking out from the black-and-white wrap.
Stellantis recently released a series of teaser images for the new Ram Rampage, showing vertical taillights, and a sculpted hood, all of which are present on this particular prototype. The recent teaser images also indicate the presence of a turbocharged engine under the hood.
As GM Authority covered previously, the Ram Rampage is poised for sale in South America, though it may be sold in North America as well, with the engineering team behind the project recently stating that a U.S. counterpart is in development. We were also first to report that Stellantis had scrapped its plans to develop a midsize body-on-frame pickup to rival the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon.
Notably, General Motors currently does not offer a unibody pickup for North America. It does, however, offer the Chevy Montana in South America as well as in Mexico later this year. Recently released for the 2023 model year, the all-new Chevy Montana features a turbocharged 1.2L engine.
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Comments
Forbidden fruit…
Good one BC
Maverick >> Ram Page
GM no like – just EVs all the way. They the silver silos can’t be bothered. Are easily distracted and have issues with contemporaneous ‘walking and gum chewing’.
The Santa Cruz is way over priced, and the Maverick is Fugly, but demand far exceeds capacity. Toyota and Subaru (again) will enter this segment as well. Hard to believe OEMs thought this was a marginal market, even understanding their fear of cannibalizing larger truck sales. Apparently, most people can’t afford or need an $80k truck for day to day use, but are tired of SUVs. GM remains absent and won’t join until this segment is saturated, and then with an inferior offering from some sh!t 3rd world market. It amazes me that it is this challenging to make one of these ‘fake’ trucks off of an existing SUV platform with minimal cost. So what if it can only hold a few mountain bikes in a 4ft bed, it would sell.
Obviously, styling is subjective, but I would certainly not call Maverick “fugly”. I find it quite attractive, actually.