Ram’s Colombian division announces the arrival of a new compact pick-up. The newcomer will be called Ram 700, but is much less Aries than you might initially think.
We mainly know Ram from the 1500, the outright opponent of cars like the Chevrolet Silverado and Ford F-150. In a few days, Ram will be pulling the canvas of a much smaller model, the 700. That is a brand-new compact pick-up for the brand that will be sold one step below the Ram 1000 in countries such as Colombia, Mexico and Brazil. Just like that 1000, the announced Ram 700 is actually not a Ram at all.
The Ram 1000 (photo 15) is nothing more or less than a Fiat Toro (photos 13 and 14) specifically developed for Central and South American markets with Ram logos. And so the 700 is basically a Fiat Strada with horns on its nose. Incidentally, it concerns the new Strada, the model presented at the beginning of this year that succeeded its then about 24 years old original (photos 8 and 9). The new Strada is available with a 109 hp and 139 Nm strong 1.3 from the relatively new Firefly engine family, although an 88 hp and 123 Nm strong 1.4, an old Fire engine, is also on the international order list. The new Ram 700 succeeds the current 700 based on the previous Fiat Strada (photo 7).
The previous generation Fiat Strada shared its technical basis with the Palio, a model of which the station version, the Palio Weekend, was also sold in the Netherlands between 1997 and 2001. The previous Strada was also available in our country. Just like the new Fiat Strada, we should not expect the Ram 700 on the market in the Netherlands. FCA and Ram often exchange pick-ups and delivery personnel. The Promaster (photo 10) is a Ducato, the ProMaster City (photo 11) is a Fiat Doblo and the ProMaster Rapid (photo 12) is a South American Fiat Uno with superstructure. There is also the Ram 1200, just like the Fiat Fullback a Mitsubishi L200 over which FCA has poured a Ram spice mix.