Now that’s a truck we’d love to drive
When Ram showed up to the 2016 State Fair of Texas, it brought along one of the coolest concepts we’d seen in a long time, the Rebel TRX Concept. Designed for high-speed off-roading, the Rebel TRX looked more than ready to take on the Ford F-150 Raptor. Even better, it packed a 575-hp supercharged V-8 that was essentially a detuned Hellcat engine. But even though the Rebel TRX was never intended to go into production, our dreams of a Hellcat-powered pickup truck might not be dead just yet.
As Allpar points out, it looks like the 2019 Ram 1500 borrows several of its design cues from the TRX Concept, especially the new Ram Rebel. Some are more subtle, like the kink in the rear doors and the badge on the steering wheel, but it’s hard to miss TRX’s influence on the Rebel’s new hood.
Still, that’s only proof that Ram didn’t completely forget about the TRX Concept when it was designing the new 1500. The actual hints that there’s a Hellcat-powered Ram Rebel on the way required digging a little bit deeper. As Allpar points out, if you zoom way in on the official press photo for the Ram Rebel’s interior, the clock is set to 7:07, just like the Hellcat’s 707 hp. Considering Fiat Chrysler’s history of hiding hints or Easter eggs in the teaser images for the Dodge Challenger Demon, we wouldn’t put it past Ram to have hidden a little clue in the Rebel’s press photos.
Of course, while Allpar claims to also have an anonymous inside source that confirms the Hellcat-powered Ram Rebel is under development, the biggest clue might be Fiat Chrysler’s history of shoehorning big engines into every vehicle it can. In a world where Dodge offers a Durango SRT, Jeep has both a Grand Cherokee SRT and a Trackhawk, and you can get both the Charger and Challenger in Hellcat form, it might be more surprising if Ram never builds a 707-hp Rebel.
Source: Allpar