Ram warns on towing overloads

THEY may be able to lift heavy things and have often been the chosen ride for workers, but there’s a more luxurious side to the new 2025 Ram 2500 and 3500 pick-up trucks that the local importer believes can tempt adventurers.

It comes as the Ram importer, Ateco Group, defends the size of American pick-up trucks in the face of growing dislike of the breed in some quarters, the importer arguing that buyers increasingly need larger vehicles to safely haul larger loads.

For 2025 the heavy haulers of the Ram line-up have headed upmarket as the brand shifts its focus for its workhorse models from “work” more to “play”.

The leather remains, but a fresh influx of technology and active safety systems as well as a revised seating layout is designed to make the heavily facelifted Rams more appealing to those heading into the sunset.

Whereas the heavy hitters of the Ram line-up are still ready to get down and dirty, it’s adventurers and grey nomads that Ateco sees as key to growing sales at the top end of the American pick-up truck market.

“Customers are demanding more luxury, as heavy duty vehicles are now the first choice for many people when it comes to doing a lap of Australia,” said Jeff Barber, general manager of Ram Trucks Australia, who also points out that overloading vehicles – by either breaching the gross vehicle mass or gross combination mass – is an increasing issue for those hitting the road.

“They want to travel in style and comfort – and without going over their GVM or GCM,” he added.

Ram Trucks Australia say the move to more actively target the private buyer adventurer market and add more luxury gear is “a reflection of changing customer preferences”, according to Joshua Dowling, Ateco Group PR manager.

“Customers are also demanding more luxury as heavy duty vehicles are now the first choice for many people when it comes to doing the lap of Australia," he stated.

“We have delivered luxury and towing capacity in spades. There’s also no shortage of grunt to shift up to 4.5 tonnes of trailer."

Headlining the 2025 update is a hefty surge in torque, or pulling power – something aimed at towing, which is the core market for the new heavy duty models.

The heavily updated Ram 2500 and 3500 have set a new torque benchmark for vehicles that can be driven on a car licence - 1458Nm.

That’s almost triple the pulling power of garden variety utes – the Hilux and Ranger four-cylinder each make 500Nm - and around double what you’d expect in a respectable supercar.

It comes courtesy of a heavily updated 6.7-litre inline six-cylinder Cummins turbo diesel that gets a redesigned block and head, new turbo and pistons and updates to the fuel delivery and air intake systems.

There is no word on fuel consumption because with a gross vehicle mass exceeding 3500kg the Rams don’t need to supply details under Australian Design Rules.

That also means that – for now, at least – large American pick-up trucks sidestep the stringent New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) that mandates lower CO2 emissions across a brand’s fleet.

However, the Australian government is looking to force large utes to comply with the NVES standards.

It has released a consultation paper and asked the industry for feedback on implementing revisions to ADR 81 (which measures fuel use and CO2 emissions) “to mandate a CO2 test for vehicles between 3.5 and 4.5 tonnes GVM”.

The draft ADR 81/03 proposes enforcing NVES regulations on such vehicles from 1 January, 2027, something that could result in thousands of dollars in penalties on vehicles that don’t hit the yet-to-be-finalised targets.

However, the Ram 3500 has a GVM of 5352kg – which gives it an NB2 vehicle classification that means it can’t be driven on a car licence - which means it would not need to comply with the proposed ADR 81/03 regulations.

Either way, Ram Trucks Australia is getting on the front foot as criticism of large pick-ups continues to swirl, with some even calling for them to be banned in Australia.

Mr Dowling says most Rams aren’t populating city streets and are instead being used for their intended purpose.

“Contrary to the noise from some sections of the mainstream media, our data shows most Ram pick-ups are sold on the fringes of our capital cities and in rural and regional areas where people use them to tow caravans, boats, horse floats and work machinery,” he said.

“Customers are often trading in four-wheel drives such as Nissan Patrols and Toyota LandCruisers because they need to the extra roominess, the extra payload capacity and towing capability our trucks deliver."

Despite the future regulatory challenges and hatred of pick-ups from some quarters, they are here to stay, in part because they are better suited to towing larger boats and caravans.

“We believe the future of US pick-ups is strong in Australia," added Mr Dowling.

“An increasing number of customers are asking too much of their mid-sized utes and traditional four-wheel drives. You can see it on the highways, in the outback and on social media. There are too many travellers way over their GVM or GCM - or both.

“Clearly there are concerns about how many people doing the big trip around Australia are overloading their vehicles and are completely unaware of the safety risks or how to properly calculate their car fully loaded,” he concluded.