![New Ram Pickup Grille, New Ram Grille](https://blog.consumerguide.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/02/Screen-shot-2015-02-23-at-2.35.48-PM.png)
In 2011, Dodge pickup trucks became Ram pickup trucks, ending the Dodge brand’s 82-year tradition of truck sales. The split came as Dodge marketing types sought to separate its cars and SUVs from what would soon become a full line of commercial vehicles. Today the Ram brand includes light- and heavy-duty pickups, plus ProMaster and ProMaster City commercial vans and chassis cabs.
Yet, like a divorcee that won’t remove his or her wedding ring, Ram pickups clung to their Dodge heritage where it was most visible–up front. Though a Ram by name, the brand’s pickups still wore the crosshair grille treatment seen on Dodge vehicles. But, five years after the fact, that’s finally changing.
![Ram Laramie Limited](https://blog.consumerguide.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/02/Screen-shot-2015-02-23-at-2.42.47-PM-1024x665.png)
![Ram Laramie Limited](https://blog.consumerguide.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/02/Screen-shot-2015-02-23-at-2.40.55-PM.png)
Two new Ram pickups have already been shown to the public, and they both sport a fresh front-end treatment free of the crosshair grille we’ve all come to associate with the trucks.
![2015 Ram Rebel](https://blog.consumerguide.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/02/Screen-shot-2015-02-23-at-2.37.40-PM.png)
First seen at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show, the Ram Rebel sports a black matte-finish grille that is expectedly aggressive, but free of any obvious Dodge design cues. Likewise, the updated Ram Laramie Limited revealed at the ’15 Chicago Auto Show features a grille unsaddled by tradition.
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Interestingly, the only common element that links the Rebel and Limited grilles is the enormous RAM tag placed front and center. Take a look for yourself. Tell us what you think of Ram’s break from the past. Was the crosshair treatment an integral part of the Ram persona, or just relic of a marriage since dissolved?