[freshforged]

lol! Yes! Let’s have EVERY FREEKING VEHICLE FROM RAM be the exact same size: humongous! That will attract the greatest number of buyers, in the greatest diversity allowing for resiliancy against sudden market changes! It’s perfect! /s

 

[Adventurer55]

Not much to explain, really. Trucks were seen as being used by farmers and therefore sacred, so they made an exception for trucks, and immediately automakers started focusing on trucks to replace V8s, including the Li'l Red Express Truck. They didn't really sell well until SUVs (Explorer, Cherokee) took off and pickups became refined enough for daily use (1994 Ram).

Back then, the catalytic converter was seen as a plug in the exhaust system and people didn’t like being required to use no lead gas. Old timers told everyone that it would destroy valves. That part wasn't totally wrong. Pickups above 6000 pounds GVW were exempt from the EPA ruling, so people bought pickups until that loophole was quickly closed. The 84 Cherokee and the 84 Caravan were really the first to get people into utility vehicles in larger numbers. Ford and Chevy restyled their trucks more toward luxury in the later 80s. Dodge was going to drop their fullsize until someone thought it was a good idea to install a 6BT Cummins in a 250 truck. Then a couple years later work began on the T300 fullsize Ram.

 

[Dave Z]

Yes, there was a lot of stupidity at that time, especially around leaded gasoline, known to be dangerous since before it was introduced. The hardened valves on all cars that would ever need unleaded fuel solved the problem but a lot of people believed it was fake.
The loophole didn't close that quickly...

 

[Adventurer55]

Yes, there was a lot of stupidity at that time, especially around leaded gasoline, known to be dangerous since before it was introduced. The hardened valves on all cars that would ever need unleaded fuel solved the problem but a lot of people believed it was fake.
The loophole didn't close that quickly...

It was closed on half ton trucks after 78. Over 8500 gvw mid 80s or so.

 

[Dave Z]

Boy, do I remember the things people said then. Lead as being safe... ha!

Remember when people would earnestly try to convince us that asbestos was perfectly safe and “they” were conspiring to kill it because “they” hate America?

Never mind the 1899 letter from the insurance company to Johns Mansville's president, agreeing to keep it all secret! and hoping they'd be dead before asbestos' deadly consequences became clear. Now THAT was a conspiracy.

Then tobacco was perfectly safe, said the conspiracy nuts, and it was just “them” again trying to make it look bad for nefarious reasons that were never quite clear.

I could point to the next conspiracy theory but it makes no more sense than a Democratic torture chamber in the basement of a pizzeria that has no basement.

 

[Adventurer55]

Boy, do I remember the things people said then. Lead as being safe... ha!

Remember when people would earnestly try to convince us that asbestos was perfectly safe and “they” were conspiring to kill it because “they” hate America?

Never mind the 1899 letter from the insurance company to Johns Mansville's president, agreeing to keep it all secret! and hoping they'd be dead before asbestos' deadly consequences became clear. Now THAT was a conspiracy.

Then tobacco was perfectly safe, said the conspiracy nuts, and it was just “them” again trying to make it look bad for nefarious reasons that were never quite clear.

I could point to the next conspiracy theory but it makes no more sense than a Democratic torture chamber in the basement of a pizzeria that has no basement.

More people probably believe the last one then the others.

 

[Dave Z]

Today, yes, but for a while it was very popular that tobacco and asbestos and leaded fuel were all perfectly safe and those dang greens were trying to kill them for no real reason.

 

[movaldes]

If the Ramcharger returns it will not be a two door like it was from 74 to 93 here, and later in Mexico.

No, it will probably be a reskinned Wagoneer.

If they even bother reskinning it, probably just slap a new nose on it and call it good.

.. and the Durango name goes away?

A two-door definitely doesn't fit into today's market. There are no full-size 2-door SUVs probably for a good reason.

Slapping a new nose on a Wagoneer is what reskinned means...lol
Unless I'm missing something.

Ford and GM both offer Explorer and Traverse which are below their full-size offerings. I can see the Durango continuing even with a new full-size Ramcharger SUV.
And yea, that would leave the GW as the competition for Escalade and GMC luxury offerings.

 

[74Powerwagon]

Turn the Recon into a truck with this BEV system, probably sell like hot cakes?

Just copy what VW is doing with the Scout name and make it better

 

[Adventurer55]

Turn the Recon into a truck with this BEV system, probably sell like hot cakes?

Just copy what VW is doing with the Scout name and make it better

You mean Scout is copying Jeep. As in the Wrangler. The Recon was like Scout going to be all electric, now that will no longer fly.

 

[geoff.gariepy]

Slapping a new nose on a Wagoneer is what reskinned means...lol
Unless I'm missing something.

It's more than just a front end assembly. Think about the difference between a Chrysler 300 and a Dodge Charger. That's what a reskin means: the entire styling of the car is altered. Now there will usually be some parts that are very similar. Durango and WK2 Grand Cherokee are very similar in certain respects. Stuff like the fuel filler door location, the size of the door apertures, etc., all tend to remain the same. The sheet metal is usually very different. Lighting is different. Interiors are different. They hang onto the basic body structure, the drivelines, maybe change the wheelbase, and definitely change the appearance.

So no, what I'm picturing is more than a new nose job. I think it will get Ram styling all around, inside and out. I think it will be interesting to see what they cough up. I would guess that if they're going to change the styling direction of the pickup, we'll get a preview in the large SUV.

Of course, I don't really know. They could go cheap, and just put a new nose on the Jeep. ("Cheap" and "Jeep" in the same sentence, wow, that doesn't happen much...) That wouldn't be a reskin, IMO. It might still be successful.

 

[Dave Z]

Could be they're planning an SUV version of the new midsize pickup to increase volume enough to justify using an entire factory.

 

[74Powerwagon]

You mean Scout is copying Jeep. As in the Wrangler. The Recon was like Scout going to be all electric, now that will no longer fly.

No, VW is bring the Scout back as an EV and an EV with a generator. Completely different than the Wrangler 4XE

 

[GasAxe]

Could be they're planning an SUV version of the new midsize pickup to increase volume enough to justify using an entire factory.

Return to the original Dakota/Durango platform sharing? Interesting, but who can tell if it’s real or fantasy with this outfit.

 

[Cleffy]

Rev will continue on as the project name for Ram's new DOHC flatplane V8 that revs to 15k RPM.
With emissions rules relaxed, there should be no reason Ram couldn't make a smaller pickup that doesn't have the problems of a 6k lbs brick.

 

[Adventurer55]

No, VW is bring the Scout back as an EV and an EV with a generator. Completely different than the Wrangler 4XE

Sorry, I was just talking about the Wrangler in general.

 

[Dave Z]

Return to the original Dakota/Durango platform sharing? Interesting, but who can tell if it’s real or fantasy with this outfit.

It would be kinda insane to NOT do that. Then again, they resisted having a Ram-based SUV for ages and ages.

 

[o_swas]

Should the next-gen Durango ride on STLA Large, or with the upcoming Dakota? In both cases, the next-gen Durango would be sharing a platform with something.

My does-not-amount-to-a-hill-of-beans opinion is that the next-gen Durango should use STLA Large, riding on a footprint basically identical to that of the Charger. Wagoneer is already in the BoF space and I don't think there needs to be another one. They need an entry in the E-sized CUV segment.

A next-gen Durango riding on the Charger footprint with Hurricane power (and Hemi too I suppose, to pacify the Hemi diehards) with Dodge styling would be a winner, methinks.

 

[serpens]

Should the next-gen Durango ride on STLA Large, or with the upcoming Dakota? In both cases, the next-gen Durango would be sharing a platform with something.

My does-not-amount-to-a-hill-of-beans opinion is that the next-gen Durango should use STLA Large, riding on a footprint basically identical to that of the Charger. Wagoneer is already in the BoF space and I don't think there needs to be another one. They need an entry in the E-sized CUV segment.

A next-gen Durango riding on the Charger footprint with Hurricane power (and Hemi too I suppose, to pacify the Hemi diehards) with Dodge styling would be a winner, methinks.

Yes, realistically that's the right choice imo. And it's the one I think will end up happening.

 

[World14]

How big would that mid-size truck be? I'd have to imagine an SUV based on it would be like a new Recon or something, and a Ramcharger would be significantly bigger.