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Truck Giant Ram May Soon Offer Midsize Pickup | Autoblog Minute

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Ram to go on a Rampage with new small pickup?

When people look back at today's automotive industry, what do you think they'll remember us for? The emergence of hybrids? Ever more expensive and exotic supercars? The dawn of the self-driving car? All likely scenarios, but so is the blurring of lines between one bodystyle and another, giving rise to hardtop convertible coupes and crossovers of every shape and size. But one bodystyle the North American auto industry has stayed largely away from in the past couple of decades is a car nose and chassis with a pickup bed.
It's a bodystyle immortalized by the Chevrolet El Camino, but with few exceptions, we haven't seen too many of these automotive platypuses in recent years on our turf. Subaru tried with the Baja and the low-volume Honda Ridgeline soldiers along largely unchanged, but the genre's biggest adherents are still Down Under, where ute versions of the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon live. With a few other examples scattered to the four corners of the earth, that's really about it. But if these spy shots are anything to go by, it looks like Fiat Chrysler Automobiles could be working to bring it back.
Spied undergoing testing in Michigan, what we appear to be looking at is a heavily disguised Fiat Strada being prepared - like the Fiat Ducato-based Ram ProMaster and the smaller Doblo-based ProMaster City - for Stateside duty as a Ram product. The Strada, for those unfamiliar, is a product of Fiat Automóveis in Brazil and is based on the Palio economy car. The nameplate has been around South America since 1996 and was originally designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro (long before Volkswagen monopolized his talents), and takes a more rugged approach in the form of the Strada Adventure.

2018 Ram 1500 gets more updates with the Sport and Big Horn Black editions

The Ram pickup is one of the oldest vehicles in the segment, but it remains hugely popular with customers. The automaker has done a good job of introducing new updates to keep the truck fresh and competitive. For 2018, there are a number of new options and trims, including some special edition models. Earlier this week, we saw the range-topping Ram Limited Tungsten Edition. Today we can show you the 2018 Ram 1500/2500 Sport and Big Horn Black models. The Sport model sits in the upper-middle of the Ram lineup. It's a handsome truck, with dark emblems and body color bumpers and trim. The headlights get dark surrounds while the hood gets two scoops, similar to that on the Challenger. The big news for 2018 is the addition of the big, R-A-M grille. This ditches the iconic cross grille, replacing it with a wide, body-color piece with RAM in bold letters right in the center. The new Big Horn Black edition slots just below the Sport trim. Consider this the "murdered-out" model, with black on black on black. It's a sleek look, with black paint, black wheels, and black trim. It has the traditional cross grille but swipes the hood from the Sport model. Both trucks go on sale later this year. Related Video: Design/Style RAM Truck