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.
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.
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?
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