The Ram 1500 keeps climbing up the Australian sales charts, and so the American pickup truck brand is expanding its offering.
The newer DT-series 1500 range is growing to include a Laramie Sport trim, priced at $136,950 before on-road costs – $9000 more than the Laramie, but $17,000 less than the flagship Limited.
It’s on sale now at Ram’s 68 dealers nationwide.
It has a somewhat less chromey look than the Laramie – there are still polished 20-inch alloy wheels, albeit with a different design, but the bumpers, grille and mirrors are now body-coloured.
The interior also goes for a darker look, with a black headliner and black carbon fibre-look dash inserts.
Three colours are available: Bright White, Diamond Black and Granite Crystal.
The RamBox cargo management system is standard, unlike the Laramie where it’s optional.
Over the Laramie, the Laramie Sport includes:
- Adaptive cruise control
- Blind-spot monitoring
- Lane-keep assist
- Rear cross-traffic alert
- Surround-view camera
- 12-inch digital instrument cluster
- Semi-autonomous parking assist
Standard equipment on both the Laramie Sport and Laramie includes:
- Autonomous emergency braking
- Front and rear parking sensors
- Power tailgate
- Black partial leather upholstery
- Eight-way power-adjustable front seats
- Heated and ventilated front seats
- Heated, leather-wrapped steering wheel
- Heated outboard rear seats
- Dual-zone climate control
- 12-inch touchscreen infotainment system
- Android Auto and Apple CarPlay
- 19-speaker Harman Kardon sound system
- Keyless entry and start
- Automatic LED headlights
- Rain-sensing wipers
- Power-adjustable pedals
- Tyre pressure monitoring
It shares the same naturally aspirated 5.7-litre V8 engine as other 1500 models, producing 291kW of power and 556Nm of torque and featuring Ram’s eTorque mild-hybrid system which assists the automatic stop/start and cylinder deactivation features.
It’s available only with an eight-speed automatic transmission and full-time four-wheel drive.
The 4500kg braked towing capacity of the Laramie is unchanged.
In the first half of this year, Ram sold 4156 pickup trucks in Australia – up 61.6 per cent on the same period last year.
Of that tally, 3697 of those were the 1500, not only out-punching the rival Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (1015 sales) year-to-date but also the Volkswagen Amarok (2202 sales). The 1500 also bested the 4×4 Nissan Navara (3474) and narrowly missed beating all Navara sales (3737).
Between the 1500 and the Jeep Gladiator, also from Stellantis but built in factory right-hand drive and distributed by the factory and not a third-party, it wasn’t even close. Jeep sold just 467 Gladiators.
Ram Trucks Australia has now delivered over 25,000 vehicles since its launch in 2015. It says it is now Australia’s biggest vehicle manufacturer, and its models require over 1000 new parts as part of the local remanufacturing process.
MORE: Everything Ram 1500
