The Ford Maverick has thus far proven to be a smash hit not only in the U.S., but also Brazil, where the compact pickup officially launched roughly one year ago. Since then, the Maverick has been named Car of the Year by The Premia Group – a non-profit organization composed of journalists – and it will soon be joined by the hybrid version, which has already arrived in the South American country in the form of demo units. However, the Maverick won’t have the compact pickup market all to itself for much longer, as a small Ram pickup is currently testing in the United States, according to sources close to product planning at Stellantis.
While it’s currently unclear if this new compact Ram pickup will be sold in North America, it is notable that the new model is at least being tested in the U.S., where the Maverick currently competes only with the Hyundai Santa Cruz in the compact pickup segment. Back in January, Ford Authority spotted spotted the smaller Ram testing in prototype form wearing heavy camo, with the production version believed to be headed for the South American market.
It’s also unclear what this new pickup will be called – whether that be the 1200, as previously rumored, or something else altogether. The Ram 1200 nameplate was previously used on a rebadged version of the Mitsubishi Triton in the Middle East, so this isn’t the first time that name has been batted around, however.
The new, compact Ramp pickup will reportedly ride on Stellantis’ “Small Wide” 4×4 architecture that underpins existing models like the Jeep Compass, Jeep Commander, and Fiat Toro, and is slated to be built at the Jeep plant located in Brazil. Wider and longer than the Toro, the 1200 will reportedly utilize an updated, turbocharged version of the 2.0L Tigershark I-4 and the turbocharged 2.2L Multijet II I-4, both of which will be mated to the ZF nine-speed automatic transmission.
In terms of styling, our only real clues were provided recently in this teaser video from the automaker, which shows off a few of the new model’s lines, its headlights, hood, and tailgate, as well as Ram badging that mimics its full-size brethren, with “turbo” script present on the hood. In any event, the Ram 1200 is expected to launch later this year for the 2024 model year.
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Comments
Santa Cruz, not Fe
A Fiat powered small pickup? No thank you
Not a big fan of Stellantis. The US should mandate every manufacturer put there name on every vehicle. Ram,Jeep, or any car truck van ect.ect.ect. just my opinion. And we all know about opinions.
I find myself with an internal conflict of supporting any company that’s ripping off Americans with their marketing plan! Ford can go to hell and so can Chevrolet or GM as well as ram! I’ll be looking at Japanese products and Korean products from now on!!!!
let’s throw caution to the wind and build a Coyote powered Maverick It would sell out in two days and there’s nothing like a 10 second quarter mile mini truck to take our breath away.