Surprise! This is the updated 2025 Ram HD pickup truck, and although we don’t have many details on it, Ram is giving the world a full, undisguised look ahead of the truck’s launch. It’s a weird move, but there’s actually some sound justification for it. Here’s the full statement from the makers of this rig:
As we approach the reveal of our 2025 Ram Heavy Duty, the engineering teams are conducting final testing on one of the most important performance attributes of our heavy haulers: cooling. As the trucks will be running loose in the wild, with the camouflage removed, we wanted to share some quality exterior images with you rather than a badly lit snapshot out the window at 70 mph.
The formal reveal of the 2025 Ram Heavy Duty will take place at a later date. At that time, we will provide more details on design, powertrain and technology.
Alright, so although dropping full-on photos of a new vehicle without releasing details may sound weird, Stellantis has good reason to. It’s ridiculously hard to test cooling capability with camouflage on, and leaks often spoil hype. If these trucks are going to be tested on public roads undisguised, it makes sense to get ahead of the story, right?
There’s just one problem I can see — it seems like nobody actually took a step back from the clay model because my word, this has to be the least visually attractive Ram truck ever.
[Editor’s Note: I actually think the new truck looks decent, especially compared to the 2006-2008 Ram:
Yikes! -DT]
America is going through a phase of over-mawed heavy duty pickup trucks. Certain trims of Ford Super Duty have a grille that looks like the element on an electric oven. The Chevrolet Silverado HD looks like someone crashed the clay model into a shipping container nose-first. The GMC Sierra HD looks like its grille was designed in Microsoft Word. Check these out:
But none of them hold a candle to the bizarro stuff going on with the 2025 Ram HD.
Just look at the front end on the Rebel trim. This thing has vertical slats, horizontal slats, an entirely different type of mesh in the lower grille, weird almost-lung-shaped elements, and it’s all just so busy. You almost get the sense that the point at which to stop adding styling elements was long ago, and that the finished product might’ve been better if someone just paused more often in the design process. The current model isn’t a huge looker either, but this is just such a fuss.
Zooming on on the other trims shown off, the monochrome treatment on the red three-quarter ton is better, but still busy. Merely having two styles of grilles on one truck is an improvement over three, but the grille silhouette is overstyled compared to the one on most trims of the current truck, and surely there has to be a better way of integrating the radar sensor, right? Oh, and painting the entire front of the work truck trim satin black is certainly a choice, but it feels more like an attempt at disguising sins than anything else. On the plus side, if you do like simplicity, both the cab and the bed seem to be shared with the previous generation of heavy duty Ram, and while that is an ancient truck, if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it, right?
Part of the trouble is that massive grilles are a technical requirement for getting the cooling system capability that heavy duty truck customers need. If you’re pulling something like a loaded enclosed two-car trailer up a mountain, you don’t want your rig overheating, so big radiators and big airflow are critical. At the same time, there has to be a more tasteful way of styling around those needs than this. Maybe if NHTSA gets its way with revised pedestrian safety standards, we could see handsome heavy duty pickups again. Or maybe it’ll go the other direction. Who knows. The distant future’s hard to predict, but the near future is going to have this bizarre looking truck on the roadway before you know it. Oink.
(Photo credits: Ram, Dodge, Ford, Chevrolet, GMC)
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this ram HD is like the homely girl with the REALLY big tittys. Like your not really into her but you just can’t … look .. away…
The Cummins will probably be better than the Powerstroke in Reliability….
I’m predicting an uptick in sales of aftermarket chrome-bar grilles.
Why do all of the pickup truck stylists want to beat on their heavy duty models with an ugly stick? I thought the Chevy HD was terrible, but this thing is even worse.
Are they having some sort of a “I can make mine look worse than yours” pissing contest with the other styling groups, or is this some sort of a “we’re pissed at management so let’s see how bad of a monstrosity we can get them to approve”?
Either way, it isn’t good. Lady Bird Johnson would take all of them to task. (Sorry – couldn’t pass up the “beautify the highways” reference, even though that was actually a bit before my time.)
I believe it is an attempt to make it look more “macho” than the competition. All of these giants trucks have stupid over the top front ends.
I feel like it’s more a “Dinner For Schmucks” contest where the design teams know full well they’re ugly as sin and are deliberately seeing how ugly they can go and people still flock to drop nearly 6 figures on them.
Modern American truck trends feels like it is fifties again, but this time with trucks instead of cars and anything resembling “joy” or “optimism” has been cut out of the designs very carefully.
eh, it has all the right stuff.
Lights, like a big rig. I wanna drive a big truck when I grow up mom… check.
Mirrors that are small, but stick out like dumbo. Check.
Biggest hood possible.
American flag decal options.
I’m still surprised they don’t sell truck nutz from the factory. Would be very on-brand for Ram.
I wish I could unsee it
It looks like a pig from Angry Birds. That’s not a compliment.
“There’s just one problem I can see — it seems like nobody actually took a step back from the clay model”
Clearly because they wanted to make sure that giant “RAM” was exactly at the eye level of the average pedestrian to ensure the company’s brand is the last thing they ever see.
Yo dawg, I heard you like hoods
So I put a hood on a hood on your hood
RAM has put nostrils on several variants of their trucks. I don’t know that I have ever been intimidated or felt like nostrils exude power and strength. I mainly just worry about getting snotted on.
Man remember when Lexus let the predator mug out in the wild however many years ago and everybody lost their shit? These trucks are definitely putting that to shame
U.S. pedestrian safety standards can’t come soon enough.
Came here to say this. Feels like these companies are taking the piss at this point with these trucks.
wait, you don’t have them?
Not in any meaningful way.
It will never happen because the unwashed masses complain every time anyone brings up restraint on shit like this.
most likely the HD trucks will get exempted because they are “commercial vehicles” .. or some shit like that.
How do I get access to the 93 responses to my comments?
first, the notification bell, top right should allow you to jump to responses.
second, at the top of the comment section, theres a person (presumably david tracy) with a gear and that’ll allow you to see all your posts and go find the responses to them
third, 93 responses is… a lot and with the comment system being a little borkus right now you might not really be able to
You can delete all notifications, but you have to click the “load more” option and then click “Delete All” . I couldn’t click “Delete All” unless I had loaded all notifications.
Don’t live in the past man. Mark them all as read and move on.
I already hate looking at a truck racing behind me with high beams, but now it’s gonna be *extra* ugly to look at!
Try have 90 responses to comments and you can’t access them
All the heavy duty pickups are ugly. Why do they all need those expensive headlight assemblies? What happened to simple work trucks
If it’s not ugly then it can’t tow air as well!!!!
Simple work trucks no longer exist.
Are we sure this isn’t a police package? 😉
BMW has their kidneys, RAM has their pork bellies
Stay tuned for recipes from Gordon RAMsay
I wish it had the crosshair grille myself, but we’re missing the big picture here. With a grille and hood that high we can have the Ram’s head hood ornament again because it won’t hurt anyone in a collision!
So does it come with the punisher sticker, or are you expected to supply your own?
Depends on where you buy it.
I mean second hand it’s obviously gonna be included
Dealer installed option. LOL!
That is harsh,but justified though,that is a lot off ass-face going on. I guess they didn’t really give many craps when designing it. If you look at the competition it’s not really better there either.
Okay, who let Xzibit into the design studio? “I heard you like grilles, so we got a grille for your grille.”
I can’t wait to see what Toyota has in store with the Tundra.
It’s been downhill since the 2010-18 trucks.
Bless Their Hearts.
I thought the donor ultimately rejected the transplant?
(https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-received-second-pig-heart-transplant-dies-hospital-says-rcna123104
To not be totally callous, I think it’s amazing they each got a little more time before passing)