Tag Archives: Ram

News

Ram’s Great Comeback: The Dakota Rides Again… Eventually

Well, would you look at that — after a decade and a half of sitting on the sidelines, Ram has finally remembered it used to make a mid-size pickup. Yes, the Dakota — that charmingly brutish, V8-snorting little truck that went out of production in 2011 — is coming back. Sort of. In 2028.

Better late than never, right?

Ram’s parent company, Stellantis, has announced a $13 billion investment in the United States, and tucked among all the corporate optimism is confirmation that a new mid-size Ram pickup is coming. It’ll be built in Toledo, Ohio, the same plant that currently churns out Jeep Wranglers and Gladiators. That means one thing: body-on-frame toughness. No soft-road, latte-fetching unibody nonsense here. This thing’s coming for the Ford Ranger, Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon, and Toyota Tacoma — the Mount Rushmore of proper trucks.

The original plan was to build it at Stellantis’s Belvidere, Illinois, plant, but that facility’s now being resurrected for a new Jeep Cherokee and Compass duo. Meanwhile, in Michigan, Stellantis will also roll out a big new SUV (somewhere between “internal combustion” and “range-extended EV,” whatever that marketing soup means), and Detroit’s getting a fresh Dodge Durango by 2029.

All this is part of CEO Antonio Filosa’s big “let’s fix Stellantis” initiative. He’s promising American jobs, expanded choices, and a grand return to giving customers what they actually want — which, translated from PR-ese, means “V8s, noise, and vehicles with a pulse.”

And to be fair, he’s off to a good start. Filosa’s undoing years of… shall we say, Tavares-ian minimalism. Under the previous boss, Stellantis went full monk — ditching V8s, fumbling the EV rollout, and trying to make Jeep posh. Spoiler: it didn’t work.

Now, the tide’s turning. The Ram 1500 V8 is back. Jeep’s getting its mojo again. Dodge still makes things that frighten small children and delight adults. The vibes are good.

But here’s the rub: 2028. That’s when this mysterious mid-size Ram finally shows up. Which means it’ll hit the market just in time to battle the next generation of Rangers, Colorados, and Tacomas — trucks that will have already evolved, maybe sprouted solar panels or learned to talk.

So yes, Ram’s back in the game. It’s just taking the scenic route — at 45 mph, with the blinker on.

Still, if the new Dakota (or whatever they call it) really is a tough, Wrangler-sibling bruiser with proper off-road cred and some American brawn under the hood, then maybe, just maybe, the wait will be worth it.

Until then, we’ll keep watching from the sidelines, polishing our old V8 Dakotas and muttering: “You could’ve been here years ago, mate.”

Source: Ram

News

Best-Selling Cars in the U.S. Market So Far in 2025

The year’s halfway over, which means two things: you’ve probably abandoned your New Year’s resolution, and America has once again decided what it really wants in a vehicle. Spoiler alert — it’s still a truck. In fact, it’s mostly trucks. And the ones that aren’t? They’re crossovers pretending to be adventurous.

Yes, the sales race for 2025 is well underway, and the leaderboard is looking as predictable as a Fast & Furious plotline. GM and Toyota are trading blows, Honda’s hanging in there, and Ford is… well, Ford. Let’s get into it.

5th Place – Ram Trucks: 174,320 Units Sold

Ram might have dropped the Hemi from the 1500 this year — prompting V8 purists to scream into their dipsticks — but it’s still moving metal. The split is 98,915 light-duty trucks and 75,405 heavy-duty bruisers. The HD 3500 will happily tow 36,610 pounds, which is more than some studio apartments weigh. Sales are down 3% from last year, but with the Hemi returning in 2026, expect the faithful to come back like it’s a family reunion with free brisket.

4th Place – Honda CR-V: 212,561 Units Sold

Proof that not all Americans need to tow a yacht, the CR-V sells because it’s safe, sensible, and about as controversial as beige wallpaper. You can have it with a 1.5-liter turbo or a hybrid that makes commuting painless. A facelifted 2026 model with a bigger screen and a faux-rugged TrailSport trim is coming, which should keep it comfortably wedged in the sales top five.

3rd Place – Toyota RAV4: 239,451 Units Sold

The CR-V’s sworn enemy is still the more popular kid in school, even though it’s been wearing the same clothes since 2019. Sure, Honda might make a nicer drive, but Toyota’s reputation for reliability is so bulletproof you could probably sell these things door-to-door in a hurricane. The all-new, hybrid-only RAV4 lands later this year, so expect this number to go even higher.

2nd Place – Chevrolet Silverado: 283,812 Units Sold

GM’s volume brute — both the Silverado 1500 and the heavy-duty models — keeps doing the heavy lifting for the brand. The HDs can tow 36,000 pounds, while the half-ton can manage 13,300 pounds. Fun fact: it actually tows 100 pounds more than its GMC Sierra twin because it weighs a smidge less. If Chevy and GMC ever merged their sales numbers, they’d dethrone the king. But they won’t, because… marketing.

1st Place – Ford F-Series: 399,819 Units Sold

The undisputed monarch of American driveways. Since 1977, the F-Series has been top dog, and in the first half of 2025 alone, Ford sold just shy of 400,000 units. That’s up 19% from last year — the sort of sales bump most automakers would sell a kidney for. The F-150 tows 13,500 pounds, while the Super Duty will happily drag 40,000. It’s not just a best-seller; it’s an institution. America’s automotive Mount Rushmore.

Six months in, and nothing’s really changed: America loves its trucks, flirts with crossovers, and lets sedans crash the party out of politeness. By December, expect this leaderboard to look about the same — unless, of course, we all suddenly decide the future is micro-EVs. But let’s be real… we won’t.

NEW CARS

Ram Dakota Nightfall: The Comeback Kid With a Grudge

Ram has done something we never thought it would do — it’s admitted a mistake. Yes, the Hemi V-8 is back in the 1500, which is basically like getting your favorite pub to put real beer back on tap after a decade of serving kombucha. But while that’s great news for the full-size faithful, there’s still a suspiciously empty parking space in Ram’s lineup — the one marked mid-size pickup.

Enter stage left: the Ram Dakota Nightfall concept. Born in Brazil, rocking enough off-road gear to make a camel jealous, and almost certainly not coming to the US… yet. This is the teaser before the trailer before the movie — but oh boy, does it look promising.

It’s kitted out like a truck that’s just finished binge-watching Mad Max: 33-inch off-road tyres, 18-inch beadlock wheels, Fox suspension, a winch, bronze underbody armour, and a spare tyre bolted into the bed with auxiliary lights… which, admittedly, turns reversing into a game of “guess what you just hit.” But let’s be honest — nobody buying this cares about rearward visibility. They care about looking like they’ve just conquered the Atacama Desert on a Tuesday morning.

The face? All business. A trapezoidal grille big enough to swallow a family of raccoons, RAM screaming across the front in big bold letters, a slim LED light bar tying the headlamps together, and three amber LEDs in the bonnet scoop — a cheeky nod to the TRX and RHO hooligans. It’s corporate family resemblance meets post-apocalyptic fashion statement.

Here’s the thing: this isn’t the Dakota that Ram will eventually sell in America. That one, due in 2027, will be its own beast — body-on-frame, probably STLA Frame underpinnings, a proper rival for the Tacoma, Ranger, and Colorado. But if the South American Dakota is any clue, Ram’s design department is very much in its “gritty adventurer” phase, and we’re here for it.

So, will the American Dakota look like this? Probably. Will it have the same off-road toys? Hopefully. Will it be called “Dakota”? It bloody well should be — because that name deserves to be pulled out of the history bin, dusted off, and sent back into battle.

For now, though, we’ll just have to watch Brazil have all the fun while we wait another couple of years for Ram to finally fill that mid-size-shaped hole in the lineup.

Source: Ram