Ram is about to get its first SUV in history and the blueprints are hidden in plain sight from the powertrain options and platform to the family-hauler’s size and even name.
On Wednesday, in an exclusive one-on-one interview Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis told The Drive, “You would think that would be a pretty obvious guess, wouldn’t you,” when asked if the automaker’s upcoming SUV arriving in 2028 will be called the Ramcharger.
Kuniskis went on to say, “I thought the Ramcharger was a great name for the range-extended version of the pickup truck, you know? Ram, Ramcharger, obvious. And now that we switched it to Rev, you’d think, okay, they’re saving the name for something else.”
The Ram 1500 Rev was originally set to be the automaker’s electric truck, which debuted in 2023. Later that year a range-extended version of the EV debuted with the name Ramcharger. But plans for the EV were scrapped in 2025 before the electric truck ever made it into the public.
Ram then shifted plans and decided the upcoming range-extended electrified truck, which was to be called the Ramcharger, will now be called the Ram Rev. This leaves the Ramcharger name open.
The Ramcharger nameplate is not new. It was originally a large SUV sold from the ’70s into the early ’90s as a Dodge. At that time the Ramcharger was based on a shortened Dodge pickup truck frame. History seems to be repeating itself.
The new Ram SUV will be built on the same assembly line as the Jeep Grand Wagoneer in Warren, Michigan. The Jeep is itself based on today’s Ram 1500, which is known as the DT platform, with modifications for SUV duty. Kuniskis confirmed the Ram SUV will be a DT-based vehicle. This means the Ram SUV will be a full-size three-row SUV, and could be available both in standard and long-wheelbase forms.
Kuniskis said, “if you look at that space, everyone that is successful in that space competes with multiple vehicles with multiple brands.” The CEO was referring to how Ford sells the Ford-badged Expedition and Lincoln Navigator while GM sells the Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade.
Stellantis tried this concept, but initially kept it in the Jeep brand only. “We started out doing it with Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. and now have realized that, probably, we could have been a little bit tighter on that positioning, and that’s why we transitioned out to just Grand Wagoneer. So, we see an opportunity in the marketplace to have, you know, a showroom. We say that that’s one of our competitive advantages, and I believe it is, that we have a house of brands, and we have all those different brands in the same showroom, with all those different positioning and personality,” Kuniskis said.
Kuniskis would not confirm which powertrains will be offered in the Ram SUV, but did confirm that because it’s DT-based and sharing the Wagoneer platform its stablemate’s offerings would all fit. This means anything from the Hurricane turbo-six engines to the 5.7- and 6.4-lite Hemi V8s and even the upcoming range-extended electrified Wagoneer powertrain, which is borrowed from what was the Ramcharger and will now be the Rev, will fit in the Ram SUV.
The man in charge of Ram wouldn’t speak to the upcoming SUV’s price, but noted that “everything in that space is fairly expensive.” In terms of the Ram SUV’s positioning against the Jeep in showrooms, “I wouldn’t differentiate on price. I would differentiate on positioning.”
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