Get ready for an electric Ram 1500.
Stellantis announced Thursday that it would begin production on a battery-electric version of its popular pickup, one of its most profitable and important vehicles, in 2024.
Mike Koval Jr., Ram brand CEO, pledged that the “class-shattering” pickup would surpass the offerings of the brand’s competitors, namely the electric versions of the Ford F-150 and the Chevrolet Silverado.
But 2024 is also the year the company plans to electrify its American muscle cars.
Yes, Dodge, the brand that hands out hemis and horsepower like Halloween candy, is going electric with “the world’s first full battery electric muscle car.”
A hint of what that car might look flashed briefly as an outline on-screen during a webcast, with a small, red triangular symbol in the center of the grille.
Dodge brand CEO Tim Kuniskis tried to offer some nuance, pledging that Dodge would not sell “electric cars,” it would sell “American muscle” because its customers, a heavy dose of millennials with purchasing power, buy an experience, not a technology.
Performance considerations, he said, were forcing the issue.
“Our engineers are reaching a practical limit of what we can squeeze from internal combustion innovation. They know, we know, that electric motors can give us more, and if we know of a technology that can give our customers an advantage, we have an obligation to embrace it,” Kuniskis said.
The announcements on Ram and Dodge, along with some news on Jeep plans for an autonomous mode for off-roading and an electric Grand Cherokee, came Thursday as the company, formed in January from the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot maker PSA Group, rolled out its electrification strategy.
The company is promising $35 billion (30 billion euros) in related investments through 2025 and four flexible battery-electric vehicle platforms that can manage 300 to 500 miles per charge. The company said it’s targeting more than 70% of its sales in Europe and 40% of its sales in the United States to be low-emission vehicles by 2030.
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In particular, Ralph Gilles, the company’s head of design, highlighted eight new vehicles in the next three to five years, including a long-range luxury sedan, “all conquering” muscle car, “heart of the market SUV,” a “very capable” Jeep and a midsize truck, which would fill a segment of the truck market that the company once led with its Dakota pickup but later left to competitors, such as Toyota.
While Stellantis brands Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Peugeot, Opel and Fiat offered presentations on their plans, Chrysler and Maserati were among the brands that did not get individual presentation slots. For fans of Chrysler, which remains without a permanent brand CEO, that is likely to continue the worries about the brand’s long-term future, although Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, has pledged to give each of the company’s 14 brands a decade to prove themselves and some analysts have suggested new Chrysler products could be on the horizon.
As part of its strategy reveal, the company also announced new mottoes for its brands. Here are a few:
- Jeep — Zero emission freedom
- Ram — Built to serve a sustainable planet
- Dodge — Tear up the streets … not the planet
- Chrysler — Clean technology for a new generation of families
The presentation, which kicked off at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, did not appear to have a dramatic impact on the company’s share price. Stellantis stock was down about 3% to $19.02 shortly before 11:30 a.m. It closed at $18.99.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence. Become a subscriber.