May is shaping up to be truck month. The 2024 Ford Ranger and Ranger Raptor hit May 10, the 2024 Toyota Tacoma debuts May 19, the 2024 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison and 2024 Range Rover Sport greet the public on May 31. A nine-second clip on Ram's social media channels informs us there's more on the way, and that Ram aims to swindle some of Ford's thunder. The teaser starts with a low flyover of a desert area beset with vehicle tracks and a sandstorm, then cuts to a closeup of someone looking through a pair of binoculars and a second of some Predator-like alien sound. That person is looking at the storm, and when we cut back to the storm and zoom in, a pair of headlights and a hard-revving engine are racing toward us. The caption at the end reads, "A new force is landing," followed by the date.
May the 4th, the date of the tease, is Star Wars Day — a play on "May the force be with you." We suspect that's where the connections to the movie franchise end. We had fun with a Dodge Charger painted like a stormtrooper helmet to hype Episode VII: The Force Awakens, but we don't believe Ram's making a Star Wars-themed truck.
The two biggest guesses are that we'll see a new pickup below the Ram 1500, or the 1500 will get a new engine. With Ram timing this against the Ranger and Ranger Raptor, it would make sense to have a midsizer, and the Stellantis brand would want something as anxiously awaited as a Ram compact pickup to steer eyes away from the also-eagerly-awaited new Ranger. Dealers were supposedly shown a rendering not long ago, but a new small hauler seems like a real long shot, considering we've seen none of the typical indicators that arrive before a debut; no patent images, trademark applications, or intel leaks.
There's also that hardcore engine sound. It would be out of place in the current mid-size truck market, but it could make sense as a new powertrain for the full-sizer. There's suggestion the 2024 Ram 1500 will get the Hurricane inline-six engine proliferating around Stellantis lineups, most recently introduced to the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer in both standard and high-output guises. The twin-turbos on the 3.0-liter mill would be another way to tie in the words "new force," as in forced induction. This idea sees the Hurricane as a replacement for the 5.7-liter Hemi V8 that's served the Ram lineup since 2003. The Hemi makes 395 horsepower and 410 pound-feet of torque. The Hurricane makes 420 hp and 468 lb-ft. in base form, 510 hp and 500 lb-ft in High-Output trim.
We'll find out when the dust clears on Wednesday.
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