Ram Is Seriously Considering a Sport Truck to Take On the Ford F-150 Lobo

There’s a Real Market For It

We’re still chuckling at The Drive’s sitdown with Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis about a single-cab, 6.4 V8-powered model. It’s not the answer people were hoping for, but he did hit the nail on the head when he said niche products like that are “for you and six other friends of yours.” That said, he’s aware that there are niches that make more business sense than that.

The publication had another talk with the executive, and the answer does give us hope that Ram will make a sport truck down the line. If you remember the Ram 1500 DC650 package from a few months back, the reception around it has been positive, and it’s gotten the Ram boss thinking about rolling out a potential rival for the F-150 Lobo.

Testing the Waters

During the interview, Kuniskis revealed to The Drive that the DC650 was a way to see if consumers would react positively to a lowered, high-performance Ram model. Built in cooperation with Fox Factory, the DC650 packs a supercharged 5.7-liter Hemi V8 with 650 hp, Ridetech coilovers, 22-inch wheels, and a body kit that would look right at home at Daytona.

Buying the car as a complete package will set interested punters back at least $89,995. Turns out, there’s a good number of people out there more than willing to shell out that amount of cash for it. The CEO admitted that the reception towards it has exceeded expectations.

The Muscle Car and Pickup Connection

It may not seem like it, but muscle car buyers and pickup buyers can be put in the same basket. Kuniskis explained that building a factory sport truck casts a wider net in the customer pool.

“If you look at the muscle car buyer, the muscle car buyer’s, number one, not even close, 
number one, most likely garage mate to their muscle car, is a light-duty pickup truck. So, the muscle car buyer is also a light-duty pickup truck buyer. So there is automatically a really solid connection in there, but it’s not super obvious, because the size of the truck business is so big, it’s a fraction,” said Kuniskis.

So, Ram Sport Truck Confirmed?

Well, not quite. The CEO didn’t outright confirm that they will build an F-150 Lobo rival just yet. His exact words were “Am I telling you, we’re gonna build a sport truck? No, I’m not telling you we’re going to build a sport truck. I’m telling you, there’s clearly a market for them.”

It’s a bit of a tease, but there is circumstantial evidence that Ram is putting serious thought into it. Remember, Kuniskis himself is resurrecting the SRT division, and a hot Ram would be a good fit for that. Ram itself is no stranger to the niche, with models like the SRT-10 from 20 years ago and the limited-run Rumble Bee from around the same time.

Should Ram build it? Well, the F-150 Lobo is doing pretty well for itself, and we doubt the company wants Ford having all the fun. It won’t be a single-cab, but we’re all for a speedy, lowered Ram. If it were up to us, we’d take out the off-road bits of the TRX, slam it to the ground, and call it the 1500 SRT.