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Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?


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radiochief
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
This should be preceded by the sentence... "If we last to Q4 2009, here's what we'd like to do..."

Does Mazda still build the B2200 series??

There has always been a market for small trucks... How come every one else on the planet can own one, but we in the US can't?

I'm not saying it has to be Rampage or mini-El Camino...but please we need something else besides a Ford Ranger for a small truck option.
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Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face.
01/10/09

@radiochief: "Does Mazda still build the B2200 series??" The Mazda B-series trucks have been rebadged Rangers since 1994. They are still on the market.
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DoctorNine
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
The reason I think that the 2006 Rampage concept would sell, is that it really DOES the functions that lightweight jobbers, cycle enthusiasts, gardening retirees, etc. need a light truck for. Look at it again.

[jalopnik.com]
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Bentoboxx, My Tank is full of it
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
Chrysler can say whatever at this point, They more than likely won't survive the year! El Camino? Sure! Electric lotus?, Why Not! Invisible Robot Fish? We're doin it! Cure for Cancer? We're on it! and all while we're banging Lindsay Lohan! "Chrysler: We just don't give a shit anymore!"
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justsomereportingguy
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
It appears they already have some of the design work done. In 2006 they released the Dodge Rampage Concept @ the Chicago auto show.

Links below...

[en.wikipedia.org]

[www.dodge.com]

[www.dodgetuners.org]

I dont like it. Nice conceptual idea but its NOT a 'camino. It sits way too high and overall is too big to act as a camino; fortunately its NOT the old Rampage tho :)
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Skunky
01/09/09

@justsomereportingguy: It's a Honda Ridgeline. Disappointing, but not necessarily a bad thing, I kinda like the Ridgeline myself.
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DoctorNine
01/09/09

@justsomereportingguy: Yeah. I posted about it yesterday:

[jalopnik.com]

I love it, and think it would sell with a 3.0 diesel like hotcakes.
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JC Whitless
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
I still stand by my earlier post that this is a bad idea.

Unless they base it off of the Sebring. Then it is awesome.
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Deartháir II
01/09/09

@JCWhitless - This post you are now reading is in the voice ...: You are a sick, sick man. Just stay put, the men in the white coats are coming for you.
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danio3834
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
I called this yesterday: [jalopnik.com]

also;

[jalopnik.com]

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Deartháir II
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
I don't quite feel the same enthusiasm for this concept as I do for the G8 ST or the Falcon Ute. Mostly because there isn't a single Chrysler vehicle that they could base it on that would make me want it, so they would need to start from scratch. Which means they won't.

Although having said that, if you watch the V8 Supercars in Australia, it's clear Chrysler wants to make a big push there, and present the 300C as a legit competitor to the Falcon and Commodore, but it never will be until there's a Ute version. Maybe that's part of the reason why?

I can't say I'd be opposed to 300Cs joining the V8 Supercar races...
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five_on_ninetyeight
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
I would suggest the Avenger as the donor vehicle for such an exercise. The existing sedan is just not funny enough.
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Skunky
01/09/09

@five_on_ninetyeight: I'm tellin' you guys, it's totally gonna be a PT-amino.
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Curves
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
I dont recall that these sold well even back in the day, which makes me wonder why they would bring it back for a second chance. I hope someone does some serious marketing and profit/loss research on it before they really do it.
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I-Roll
01/09/09

@Curves: I'm glad somebody gets it. Since this was posted an hour or so ago I have seen at least 5 compact pickups from the 80's go down the road. I can't even recall the last time I saw a Camino/Ranchero/Rampage on the road.
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Skunky
01/09/09

@I-Roll: I see one all the time, there's an old guy with one in great condition. I imagine he's the original owner.
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Daniel Horney
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
I wish they'd bring back the older Dakota (the 1997-2004 model) with a nice straight six and a good six speed transmission. Mostly just because I had one of those Dakotas and loved it. Nevertheless, I like where the companies are going with these car based pickup trucks...Utes...whatever. Now if they'd just build them...
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Scott Wynn
01/09/09

@Daniel Horney: The Dakota never had a straight six. It came with either the 3.9 V6 and then later switched to using the 3.7 V6.
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Skunky
01/09/09

@Scott Wynn: The sixes also had the same economy as the eights but with less power. Hated the v6 version.
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Timtoolman, sporadically speaking
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
Refer to comment from G8 ST post. It's like I'm omniscient or something.

OK, "something", but I DID say it! Basically put, I indicated that it would be funny to see Dodge redo the Dakota as a unibody pickup and build one that mirrors the El Camino/Ranchero.
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DoctorNine
01/09/09

@timtoolman: (pedant) The word you are looking for is prescient. (/pedant)
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biminitwst
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
I considered buying a Rampage back in the day, but they were so cheaply made they didn't last long in the real world.
Remember the Toyota Hilux and the other Japanese 'mini trucks'from the '70s and '80s?
Its time for that type of vehicle to come back.
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Elhigh
01/10/09

@biminitwst: "Remember?!" It's in the parking lot right now.

Back in the day IHC cranked out a - brace yourself - 3.2 litre four-banger. Now I bet it rode like bronco - the horse, not the Ford - but if you were heading uphill and/or dragging something heavy...and weren't in a hurry...why, it would get you there. And it's no torque monster, but the 22R under the hood outside has proven reasonably torquey for anything up to a ton of firewood in the bed (yes, that's a serious overload) or a trailer with as much as a ton-and-a-half on the hitch. I know towing capacity is a huge selling point for light trucks in the ?Usa, but really - how many peole do any towing at all? Ever? Of all the people I work with, I'm one of three, and none of us drives the all-out biggest-engine option.
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Elhigh
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
So long as the thing isn't based on the Godforsaken Caliber.

Lessee, other compact no-frills perfectly good pickups: the Toyota Nameless, the Nissan Nameless (eventually the "Hardbody" which considering its history of rust is really very funny), the Ford Ranger, Chevy S10, and the Dodge...hmm...Dodge didn't have one. They slapped a badge on a Mitsu and sold that. That and the Rampage, which was pretty much just a li'l Scamp without the hatch installed.

Well. It's not like it's all that hard to do. Frame rails, engine, tranny. Windows.

Seats.

Oh, right - and a cargo bed that ISN'T A DAMNFOOL WASTE OF TIME AND STEEL. Anything less than six feet long will just annoy the buyers who really use trucks.

C'mon, Dodge - you can do that. Just like the Dakota back in the 80's, with less sport and more utility.
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Paul Y. can't get in the club; gotta parking lot pimp
01/09/09

@Elhigh: "Anything less than six feet long will just annoy the buyers who really use trucks."

Tell that to every idiot that buys a crewcab truck with a 5' bed. There's no shortage of those people.
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Maymar
01/09/09

@Elhigh: But, a Calipage might be a half-decent truck (which is good, coming from a terrible car). Plus, there's totally a chance for an SRT4 model then.
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Timtoolman, sporadically speaking
01/09/09

@Maymar wishes his car had beach assault capability: Just curious. I've ridden in a Caliber, and apart from the already infamous cheapo interiors, what is really wrong with this car? A bit underpowered and overweight for its class? Yes. But what else?

(A Calipage would be pretty nifty, huh?)
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Maymar
01/09/09

@timtoolman: I'll be honest, I probably spoke before thinking, I have little experience with it (or the Patriot/Compass), and probably should've said mediocre. Still, the main weaknesses I can think of (lack of refinement, and poor fuel economy for an econocar) aren't so bad for a mini-trucklet.
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J-2-da-B
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
that really sounds cool, until hard facts hit you:

1) Chrysler a while back announced a haulting in all there operational faculties (to an unknown date).
2) They still havent got their share of the bail-out money!
3) They only have 115-Day supply for their dealers.
4) From what will they do it?
5) We haven't seen a new concept or update since along time from them, suddenly a new car all at once?!

hope i'm worng & that we get a car-based pick-up truck... with neither the falcom nor the el-camino comming, i doubt Chrysler will answer our prayers!
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Skunky
01/09/09

@J-2-da-B: A hault to operations is the perfect time to rethink and retool. It's easier to lick 'n stick a change to a car and make a small truck out of it than to throw out the Dakota and start from the wheels up.
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Cognitive Friction
01/09/09

In reply to Return Of The Rampage: Chrysler Mulling Car-Based Pickup?
Chrysler is reportedly considering the introduction of a smaller, lighter, more efficient car-based pickup with a lower price point.

Maybe Chrysler should apply this logic to their cars too
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