A Hilariously Firm No
In a recent interview with The Drive, Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis finally addressed rumors of a high-performance, short-bed, single-cab model coming to market. The best part is, he answered it in a way that sounds like a hilariously valid crashout. So, Mr. Kuniskis, what are the odds of it happening?
"Do you know what the market is for a regular cab sport truck? It’s just tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, little sliver. It's like the wagon with the manual that everybody used to ask for. Now they’re asking for the manual single-cab truck. And, of course, they want it with a manual transmission. They want it with a 6.4," Kuniskis told The Drive.
Yeah, we'll take that as a "nope."
Wagons Catching Strays, Too
It's a refreshingly honest and straightforward answer from a CEO if you ask us. Kuniskis compared the whole single-cab Ram 1500 with a 6.4 thing to the "we want a manual wagon" cries from us motoring journalists and internet commenters.
"Used to be back in the day, all the journalists would say, you should build a station wagon with a manual transmission, and I’d be like, come on, man. For you. Yeah, for you and the six other friends of yours that want to buy it," said the executive. A blunt and valid point, we say.
Look, we love wagons, too, but not enough people are buying them to justify keeping them around in certain markets. Heck, even Volvo is pulling out of the 'regular wagon' segment in America. The answer is simple: If you really want them, buy them, and buy a lot of them.
RAM
It's a Business, At The End of the Day
As cool as the idea is, it simply isn't going to generate money for Ram. Car companies are businesses at the end of the day, and enthusiasts are just a small percentage of buyers. Sad, yes, but true. Also, Ram already has several high-performance versions of the 1500 with the return of the TRX right at the top. And yes, that has a supercharged 6.4 Hemi V8
One could argue that Ram dabbled in the whole single-cab sport truck thing about 20 years ago with the Dodge Ram SRT-10. Again, a cool and awesome idea, but it only found 10,046 buyers over the span of three model years from 2004 to 2006. "Tell me where you put the 6.4 that makes sense. And I don’t mean ego. I mean, just business sense. Tell me where to put the 6.4 in the current light duty lineup," added Kuniskis.
The Drive pointed out that the turbocharged Hurricane HO inline-six engine already makes 550 hp, and that the 6.4 would actually be slower even though it'll surely sound nicer at wide-open throttle. Sure, Ram can add go-fast bits to it, but it'll drive up the price and limit consumer reach. Besides, Ram doesn't build single-cab bodies for the 1500 anymore, so it'll have to produce those to make that happen.
Ram
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