Nature is healing. The Ram Rampage is here to soothe our monster-truck-weary souls, and ameliorate the loss of the Dodge Dakota. Well, maybe not for truck fans in the U.S. — at least, not yet — but for those in Brazil, where the 2024 Ram Rampage sold out 28 minutes after Ram opened preorders for its latest small truck, as Mopar Insiders reports.
I should qualify my statement and say that the new Rampage is a smallish truck, since it’s somewhat bigger than the Ram 1000 — basically a rebadged Fiat Toro, — which the Rampage ostensibly replaces among Ram’s picapes, as the trucks are known in Brazil. The new Rampage looks like a Ram 1500 that spent too much time in the drier, and shrunk down a size. It’s a stunning design that proves a Ram truck doesn’t have to be a big Power Wagon to be handsome.
Buyers in Brazil seem to agree, and all 500 models in the initial batch of Ram Rampages were spoken for within 28 minutes of reservations opening on June 22, according to Mopar Insiders and Ram do Brasil itself. Reservations started at 10:00 a.m. and closed by 10:28 a.m., once all prospective Rampage buyers had put down their R$1,000 deposit, or about $210 at current exchange rates.
Of course, 500 might seem like a relatively low number of vehicles available in the presale, but Ram reportedly accepted another 1,100 reservations after the first batch sold out due to overwhelming demand.
Part of the Rampage’s popularity could be down to its looks, which North American designers helped finalize, according to Car and Driver. But it might also have something to do with the Rampage’s performance, which Ram touts as best-in-class: the Rampage will be powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine making 268 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. There’s a 2.0-liter turbodiesel engine making 168 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque for certain models. For reference, the 2024 Ram Rampage is 198.0 inches long, 74.3 inches wide, and 70.1 inches tall, per Car and Driver.
The reception to the Rampage in Brazil could bode well for the truck’s prospects in the U.S., where the small unibody truck would be a fine alternative and worthy competitor to the Ford Maverick. The Mav has proven popular among buyers in America, where full- and midsize trucks are already popular to begin with. Ram, or Dodge, has been conspicuously absent from the midsize truck segment since the death of the Dakota, while Ford, Toyota, Chevy and Nissan have all debuted redesigned models. The Rampage may not be the new Dakota we deserve, but it makes little sense for Ram to cede the “small” truck market to the Ford Maverick uncontested. Do it, Ram. Bring the Rampage home.
