The Ram Midsize Truck Is Coming In 2027, According To The UAW

Ram is about to re-enter the midsize truck market within the next couple years, if reporting from Automotive News is to be believed. Citing a company memo, the outlet reports that Stellantis will reopen its idle facility in Belvidere, Illinois, and return around 1,500 employees to work there to build the truck, which will slot in beneath the Ram 1500 and do battle with the Toyota Tacoma. Although Stellantis didn’t commit to specific timing in the memo, the UAW announced that the Belvidere plant would build a midsize truck starting in 2027, so unless some other automaker is using a Stellantis factory to build its products, it seems likely the union is talking about Ram’s new baby.

The Past And Future Of The Belvidere Plant

The facility in Illinois has been part of the Chrysler (now Stellantis) stable since the 1960s, most recently building the Jeep Cherokee from 2017 to 2023. It employed 1,350 workers to build the crossover, but since 2023, Belvidere has sat idle. Formerly, Stellantis intended to modernize the plant to build future electric cars, but soft industry-wide demand and a looming anti-EV sentiment from the Trump administration has the automaker rethinking those plans.

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According to the memo, Stellantis will instead use the factory to build Ram’s successor to the Dodge Dakota, a midsize pickup that went out of production in 2011. The automaker has been in talks with the UAW for several months now, with the union threatening to strike if Stellantis reconsidered its plan to bring Belvidere online. UAW President Shawn Fain announced to members that the two parties had achieved a compromise that would keep Stellantis’ existing facilities open and bring a new product to Belvidere – the midsize Ram pickup.

Ram Gets Serious About A Midsize Truck

Slotting in beneath the Ram 1500, the smaller offering remains shrouded in secrecy. It could follow the path of its Dakota predecessor by offering the same exterior styling cues and similar powertrains as its big sibling, or it could adopt a downsized engine lineup – perhaps with hybridization for better fuel economy. Since Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis has said that the brand needs a Toyota Tacoma rival if it wants to be taken seriously, we expect the company’s smaller truck to give up very little in capability to existing midsize trucks.

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Given that, don’t expect the newest member of the truck family to be anything like the car-based Ram 1000 sold in other markets. It could be based on the STLA Large modular platform, making it technically a unibody truck design, or it might borrow the STLA Frame architecture from the larger Ram 1500 Ramcharger. Both options are EV-native designs, but Stellantis has previously said it would adapt them for internal combustion as needed. If that’s the case, the as-yet-unnamed midsize Ram could very easily become a full EV if the market demands it.

Source: Automotive News