- If you ever thought you'd see crazy horsepower numbers
in a truck, it probably would be no surprise
that it would come from RAM.
Back in the day, Dodge built the SRT 10 RAM
with the 8.3 liter V10 out of the Viper.
But more recently they've been teasing us with rumors
of an all new off-road based RAM, that steals it's heart
from nothing other than the Hellcat.
So will this truck outdo the Ford Raptor?
We open to the details to find out what's the hype
with the RAM Rebel TRX.
(hard rock music)
So way back in 2016 Ram gave us the first glimpse
of the concept model TRX and people really got excited.
Other than Ford, no one was really offering a pickup
that was both fast and capable off-road.
The TRX concept had a ton of awesome features both inside
and out that all had performance in mind.
Suspension was provided by King with coilovers up front
and King 2.5 up back.
That gave the truck 13 inches of travel.
The whole truck itself was wider by about five inches
to fit the factory 18 inch Beadlocks in 37 1350
open country empty tires.
And this was a big deal.
Plus it had two full-size spares in the bed.
As far as I'm aware, there's no other pickup truck
that comes from the factory with 37s or Kings
for that matter.
Inside the cab there's six point racing harnesses
a flat bottom steering wheel
that looked like it was borrowed from the new Viper
and the door handles were replaced with door pulls
to save weight.
All of this seemed a little bit intense for a stock truck
but then again, the Fiat Chrysler group
who owns the RAM brand kind of has a reputation
for doing crazy things in production cars.
Like, y'all remember the Hellcat, right?
(vehicle engine roars)
And then they went and they made the Demon.
(vehicle engine roars)
And don't get mad at me
for talking about cars on the truck channel
because guess what, RAM took
that 6.2 liter supercharged V eight straight out
of your daddy's Hellcat and stuffed it in the TRX concept.
Add on a five inch exhaust
with side exits built in the rock sliders
and you've got one heck of a machine.
But of course, this was only a concept and it was 2016
so where are we at now?
Well, when Ram launched the new fifth gen RAM 1500
with its all new redesign for 2019, we got a bit
of a hidden message in one of the photos.
On the massive screen on the interior shots
the time was 7:07 which may not seem significant
but Dodge pulled this same trick before unveiling
the 707 horsepower Hellcat.
This kind of confirms that there will be a Rebel
TRX in the new fifth gen chassis, and it'll boast
that 700 horsepower engine.
Fingers crossed that they give us the full power
because back in 2016 the Hellcat engine in the concept
was actually detuned only 575 horsepower.
Now, if you're wondering what TRX stands for
well, it's literally T-REX or Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Why?
Well, I'm not a paleontologist, but I do know
that a T-REX is bigger than a Raptor
(dramatic music)
(dinasour roars)
From what we know now, I believe the production model
RAM Rebel TRX will be released this year
at the Detroit auto show.
Spy shots have started increasing.
Last year we saw a whole group of blacked out RAMs
testing in Silver Lake Sand Dunes in Michigan, which isn't
that far from where these trucks will be built.
These trucks obviously were not production models,
there's some of the photos showed us
that trucks had eight lug axles in the rear
and wear six lug upfront.
So the question is, is RAM going
to use eight lugs all the way around on a half ton pickup?
I'm sure that wouldn't have two different bolt patterns
because that would just make it a nightmare to buy a wheel
and tire packages, but if they do go with the eight lug
I think that might make sense.
Many of the eight lug wheels we sell on our site
have a higher weight rating
and are stronger than their six lug counterparts
because they are built for heavy duty trucks.
This means that you'll have super strong wheels
on your 700 plus horsepower off-road overlanding
Baja pickup.
Looking into the financials a bit
it's confirmed RAM will be making the TRX truck.
We just can't quite confirm what it will be equipped with.
In Assembly Division Document
that goes over upcoming investments
for Fiat Chrysler, shows the $210 million investment
into the Sterling Heights plant.
And in the details it says new TRX launched 2020
as well as a potential workforce increase
of 200 employees just for the TRX project.
I'm just stoked to have a truck that can run 37s
from the factory because that means one
of you guys will throw a leveling kit on it
and stuff 40's underneath it.
So what do you think?
Let us know if the RAM Rebel TRX lives up to the hype.
(outro music)