Amid a leadership shakeup at Stellantis, Tim Kuniskis has returned as the Ram CEO after a brief retirement. In a recent interview with Road & Track, Kuniskis was quite candid about the struggles the American truck brand is facing and what he wants to do about it. One of the top items on his agenda is to finally bring a midsize truck to the brand’s North American lineup.
“I think we can grow more in our sub-$55,000 price point because I used to have [the Ram Classic], and I don’t have that [truck] anymore,” Kuniskis told Road & Track. “I’m doing some interesting stuff down there with Tradesmans and Warlocks and stuff like that, but I need to do more there. I need a mid-size truck for sure.”
2011 Dodge Dakota
“We’re a truck brand, and we don’t have a compact, we don’t have a mid-size. Kinda disingenuous to call me a truck brand, isn’t it?” he added. “So yeah, I need that. I want that, I need that. I’m not telling you that I am going to have it in six months, but I desperately want it, and there is a market for it.”
Kuniskis talked about rival truck brands’ success in the midsize space, specifically naming GM among them. “If I look at Toyota, they’re doing over 200,000 Tacomas a year. Ford’s doing close to 200,000 between the Maverick and the Ranger,” said Kuniskis. “GM’s doing around 140,000 between GMC and Chevy. There’s a clear, obvious market there that I want to go after. That’s just plus business to [dealers] since they haven’t had that since Dakota.”
2024 Ram Classic 1500
Last month, we reported that Stellantis is moving ahead with building a midsize Ram pickup at its Belvidere plant in Illinois, but the timeline is uncertain. We speculated that the truck most likely to be built there is the Ram Rampage, which is currently marketed in South America. The Rampage is a unibody, all-wheel-drive, four-door truck powered by the turbocharged 2.0L I4 GME shared with the Jeep Wrangler. It’s similar in size to the compact Ford Maverick.
However, based on Kuniskis’ enthusiasm for bringing more affordable trucks to Ram dealers, it’s possible we’ll see a brand new Ram model in a more traditional body-on-frame configuration to rival the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon. Kuniskis sounds like he’s in a hurry to make this happen after solving the production problems facing his brand right now, so a new rival to GM’s midsize trucks could be right around the corner.
Comments
easy, they have it from Fiat Brasil, rebadge as RAM Toro it is ok, sells more than Montana
Tim knows what is going on and will get things back on track if allowed. Tavares was just another WEF puppet.
Companies like GM have sooo many CUVs in sooo many sizes some seem to compete with each other. Why only two sizes of pickups? Big and huge.
Exactly. Build your own competition so people can shop between two or three of your cars/trucks /CUV’s or even SUV’s. That’s the Silverado/Sierra, the Tahoe/Yukon, Trax/Encore, etc. I just don’t understand dropping the sedans one after the next, dropping one ultimately cuts sales all around. Maybe GM can come up with a Maverick competitor.
Better build also in RHD for other markets where the Ram is sold such as Australia…
Build a performance version with a HEMI in it a reasonable price!
I own a Chevy Colorado and I’m happy as hell with it. It only has a V-6, but it has some power. I don’t think Ram can build a (3/4 size) truck that good.
I’m a gm loyalist and I can fairly say that if RAM fully study the Colorado’s capabilities, under the new leadership that truly understands Trucks more so than the outgoing CEO, they can manufacture a true competitor against the Colorado. I wasn’t anticipating RAM nearly overtaking GM sales with the RAM 1500 back in 2019/2020 but they did, due to the lackluster interiors that the Silverado and Sierra were faulted with.
Ram should have a completive pickup to compete with GM , Ford , Toyota , but not a Honda like pickup. A Dakota based truck with the 4 cylinder with the option of a V6 . An EV version should be on the back burner due to the real possibility EV tax credit repealed and a $1000 tax being applied to them.
Ram is owned by Stellantis. Their 4 and 6 cylinder engines are GARBAGE
My next truck will be a RAM. Not sure if it will be full size or mid size yet but I’m done with Mary and GM! I can’t wait until it’s time to trade in!