Stellantis is a big car company that makes many different brands of vehicles, like Ram and Jeep. They are known for producing a variety of cars and trucks.
The Ram Rev is a new electric truck from Ram. It can drive longer distances than regular electric cars because it has a special feature that helps extend its range.
A range extender is an extra power source for electric cars that helps them go further by generating electricity while you drive. It makes long trips easier because you don't have to stop and charge as often.
The Ram TRX is a special version of the Ram truck that is built for speed and off-road driving. It's popular among truck enthusiasts who want a powerful vehicle.
The Hellcat is a powerful engine made by Dodge that makes cars go really fast. It's used in some of their sports cars and is famous for its loud sound and speed.
A supercharged V8 is a type of engine that has a special device called a supercharger. This device helps the engine make more power, making the car go faster.
The Ram 1500 TRX is a powerful version of the regular Ram truck, designed for speed and off-road driving. The 2027 model is expected to be even better than previous versions.
The Ford Raptor R is a tough and fast version of the Ford truck, built for off-road adventures. It's known for being powerful and capable of handling rough terrain.
The destination charge is what you pay for the car to be delivered to the dealership. It's an extra cost on top of the car's price and usually can't be changed.
The Jeep Gladiator is a truck made by Jeep that can go off-road. It’s designed for people who want to drive in tough conditions and still have a truck bed for carrying things.
The Jeep Cherokee is a smaller SUV made by Jeep. It’s good for both driving in the city and going off-road, making it versatile for different types of drivers.
The Ford Super Duty is a series of strong trucks made for heavy work, like towing trailers or carrying heavy loads, and the 2023 version has some new features.
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Welcome to Detroit. This is the 2026 Detroit auto show international auto show right.
I don't know if they actually call it international anymore because it's pretty it's pretty
Detroit centric right. Pretty much yeah. None of the European automakers are here.
Most of the Japanese and Asians aren't here. This is really almost like true Michigan show.
It's about as true. It's about as Michigan as it gets. Yeah.
So thanks for joining us on this episode of TFL Talking Trucks Podcast. With me on this episode
is my friend Sam Abel Semed. You have your own podcast. You have your own. I mean you do many
things in the automotive industry. My own little empire. A little empire. And you've been in the
industry for about four decades right. Yeah. Yeah. Actually last year was my 40th year since I started
as an engineering co-op student working in the auto industry. There you go. So you understand
this industry quite well. So what I want to do, this is our best of Detroit. So we want to walk
around and I can actually kind of show what's here and maybe get some insight especially from you
about what you know state of the industry a little bit. What trucks and big SUVs are here.
So we're starting here in the Ram booth at Stalantis because they actually have a lot going on.
Yeah. Today. Yeah. Yeah. They do. And right here we've got the Ram 1500 Rev. Yes. Which
eventually might even go on sale. Yeah. That's the last most recent I've heard. Second half of
this year. Yeah. But this is the range extended electric Ram. So we can show the badge actually.
So actually this looks almost like a production model. Right. Yeah. I actually saw one on the
road driving here this morning. And apparently there's about there's about 200 of these now
that are out being driven around by Stalantis employees. Yeah. So I have a little bit of
inside information because about an hour ago I spoke with Tim Kaniscus, the CEO of Ram.
And I asked him on the due date on the Rev and he said kind of TBD. So he said they had a lot
going on. You know they're launching the TRX and several other things. And so so stay tuned.
Yeah. I mean they still have vehicles that don't have how cats and hammies in them yet that they
have to that they still have to deliver. So but this is quite interesting. This truck let's look
inside of this truck because I've seen some prototypes before but this seems to be almost
finished. You know what I'm saying. Yeah. Well the thing you got to keep in mind is that you know
this is the cab is basically standard Ram 1500. So there's you know unlike a lot of the prototypes
that we see where you know you'll see surfaces that don't have all the proper draining on them and
everything. You know this is just this is stock 1500s like any other 1500. It's what's underneath
that makes the difference. Exactly. And what's underneath is electric motors one in the front
one in the rear. So it's all wheel drive four wheel drive. And we have a Pentastar under the hood.
Yeah. Yeah. So you're the generator right. Yeah. So you got about 650 horsepower from the two motors
that are driving the vehicle. Yeah. You got a 92 kilowatt hour battery pack and a 27 gallon fuel
tank that is fueling the the Pentastar V6 that is not connected to the wheels in any way.
All it's doing is is driving a generator that as your battery depletes that generator is producing
electricity to keep the battery charged. So that when you're towing you can
unlike with a lightning or other electric. Even Silverado. Yeah. You just keep on going.
Yeah. Exactly. And also the capability of the towing rating on this is 14,000 pounds. Yeah.
And it's got heavy duty hubs. Yeah. I mean if you look at the hubs on this thing is eight lugs.
I mean so this should be quite interesting. But right now for Ram it's a lot about internal
combustion. Right. Yeah. So let's walk over a little bit further because we don't have pricing
on this yet. Right. Although Ram says Ram actually told me that the rev range extender
will be cheaper than all electric. Yeah. Yeah. So you got the plug right here. And it's not
max. Yeah. It's still CCS. But you know who knows. I mean they keep delaying this by the time they
actually build it. It may have max. It might cut a max for it. Exactly. But yeah. But do you agree
with that. Yeah. That the range extender could be more affordable than an all electric truck.
Yeah. Because when you look at the cost of the battery you know what they what they originally
announced with the BEV version of this they the standard BEV version was going to be 160
hour 160 kilowatt hour battery. Yeah. And this is 92. So if you're taking out about 70 kilowatt
hours of battery almost having that you're taking you're taking out about about not somewhere between
nine and ten thousand dollars of cost just from that battery. And then to add the range extender
back in and the fuel system and the exhaust and everything probably somewhere in the neighborhood
of four to five thousand dollars. So theoretically this thing cost at least cost I don't know how
they're going to price it but at least from a cost perspective it's probably going to be about
four to five thousand dollars cheaper for Stalantis to build that than for the standard range
BEV that they were going to do. Makes sense. Yeah. Now we're standing next to a truck that's
the opposite of the one we just looked at. Yeah. This is a 5.7 liter Hemi that's super
charged with a Whipple. It's about 650 because this is called the 650. Right. Which is basically
identical horsepower level as that electric range extender. Right. I think it'll be interesting
when you guys get a chance to hopefully drag race these back to back because this one is probably
lighter in weight. It's probably lighter. Yes. But I'll bet you that one might still be quicker
because of all the electric torque. That instant electric torque and all wheel drive. Is this all
wheel drive or it should be or rear wheel drive. I mean I hope it's all drive to because otherwise
even if it's all wheel drive the power delivery is not going to be the same as what you're going
to get out of the electric motor. So I want to see you guys take these two to the airstrip.
Yeah. But what do you think about this? My e-torque this supercharged Ram 1500 here.
By the way it's coming with the direct connection. Right. It's the electric dealer. Yes. Yeah. And
so the the 57 Hemi has the e-torque on there is standard and I think to simplify the installation
and keep keep things as you know to minimize the complexity it's easier to leave that on there
because otherwise you would if you take that off you're going to have to put on an alternator
and set up the electrical system for that alternator. Yeah. So this this is taking the
place of the alternator on a traditional engine. Yeah. And there's a small battery. Yeah. On in
the system as well. Yeah. Not humongous one. That's about a half kilowatt hour. Yeah. Very very
tiny. Yeah. By comparison but essentially because this looks like complexity but it's a little bit
counterintuitive that this would be easier to do. It actually simplifies because that also
takes the place of your starter motor. Yes. So there's no there's no traditional starter motor.
No alternator. You just have that one unit. Bam. And it's driven by the serpentine belt.
Yes. So it's right there. Okay. Let's keep moving. Now there's also the TRX. We've done many
stories already about the TRX. It's coming back and they're saying kind of middle of this year.
Yeah. Like summertime. And are you excited by this? What do you what do you think?
You know, yes and no. Okay. You know, I always love hearing the sound of a Hellcat of Super
Charged V8. But you know the reality is driving it having having driven the the RHO and the
first generation TRX. You know, the RHO was just as much fun to drive. Yeah. It didn't have quite the
sound. Maybe not quite as quick ultimately. But you know, I'm sure there there will absolutely
be an audience to this truck. There will be people that want the the most that they can
possibly get out of it. And the 777 horsepower now. Triple sevens. Yeah. I keep thinking about Las
Vegas for some reason. You know, pulling that pulling that handle and seeing triple seven.
Sure. It's just a complete coincidence that they tuned it to exactly 777 horsepower. It
couldn't be 776, right? No, no, no. Or 778. Yeah. Triple seven. That would just not work.
Yeah. Okay. No. So I was actually at my local dealer near Denver, Colorado. And the orders for
these are not open yet. Right. 2027. This is a 2027 model. But my dealer said they have a like a
list, a spreadsheet of 30 people waiting for this new TRX. Yeah. Already. You know, it's cheaper
than the Raptor R. Well, it's cheaper than the Raptor R. Yeah. It's also cheaper than the final
edition of the old TRX. Which is a little sad. Yeah. Although it is significantly more expensive
than the TRX was when it launched, which is the one you guys own. Because it started in 2021 model
year at $72,000. Yeah. And the one we purchased had a couple of options, several things at $77,000.
This is $102,000. Right. Including the $2,595 destination charge now. Which is the humongous
charge. And you and I on our podcast, we talk about this because it's $2,600 almost. Yeah.
It's pretty crazy. All right. Let's keep moving. I noticed a really cool gladiator. Can we go through
the gladiator? Yeah. Let's go through the gladiator. So Ram, Solantis has a big presence at this show
this year. I mean, their booth is pretty tremendous. And they have Camp Jeep area as well. Camp Jeep. So
that people can, as when the consumers come in, they can go try out the Jeeps on, you know, even
if they never actually, if they buy a Jeep and never take it off road, they can still kind of get a
little bit of that experience right here on the show floor. Yeah. And we're walking by several
vehicles. So if you want to learn more about the Recon or maybe the Cherokee, come back to our
car podcast, right? We're focused on pickup trucks in this particular area. Dude, what do you think
about the look of this? I love the military look. Yeah. I like this look. I like nice, nice clean,
kind of not a little more subtle, but the matching wheels and the olive drab paint on the bodywork.
I think it looks really neat. It's reminds of the original wheelies, you know, Jeeps. Yeah.
Let's look at the front a little bit. But I want to bring up a point,
since we're looking at this gladiator and talking about Jeep, is that recently, basically it was
confirmed that their plug-in hybrid 4xE technology, not the entire 4xE nameplate, right? Right.
4xE is applying to everything that they build with a plug. Yes. But plug-in technology is going
away, at least for now. Yeah. So the plug-in hybrids that they have on the Wrangler, the Grand Cherokee,
and that they were planning for the gladiator, as well as the Pacifica plug-in hybrid,
all those are being discontinued. Oh, have you heard about the Hornet at all?
I haven't heard anything on the Hornet. I'll have to ask. Because it has a plug-in version
as well. That's a completely different system that they have on there.
But these, all four of these vehicles, or three of them that were actually in production,
Stalanz has had a lot of issues with recalls on those. They've had some problems with fires on them,
and so they've gone through a long stretch of recalls. That's so unfortunate. Yeah. I think,
given that they, with the rollback and emission standards, they don't need to have these in the
lineup anymore now, and the problems they've had with it trying to get those sorted out,
they decided it's better to just cut their losses on that. Do you think it'll come back
in a short order, like one or two years down the line? Do you think it might return?
I think it's more likely, you know, it's probably more like three to four years.
So not that quick? Probably be a next-generation system, maybe based on some new battery technology,
some different suppliers. But at some point, I think they'll probably bring it back.
So it's not as quick as some people might think, right? And what we might actually see is,
you know, depending on the success of that ram rev and the grand wagon here,
our e-rev over here. Let's take a look at this. Yeah. We might actually see them go the e-rev route
with these instead of the traditional plug-in hybrid. That might be actually very interesting,
right? So you could do an e-rev Wrangler or Grand Cherokee. Or Gladiator, for example. Yeah. And
instead of the Pentastar, maybe put the four-cylinder in there, the two-liter four-cylinder.
So let's just show this grand wagon here. This is basically the cousin to that ram rev
that we were looking at, right? Also the plug. Still a CCS, but... Okay. Yeah. It's basically,
it's the same powertrain that's in that ram rev, but with a smaller fuel tank, because this has a
shorter wheelbase. So it's only a 20-gallon fuel tank. Versus what, 27? 27. Over there.
But it's got a fresh face, right? Yeah. They just redid the face on the grand wagon here.
And look at this. Look what it says. It has a Jeep badge. What? You don't have to go looking inside
the headlamp cluster for the little tiny Jeep. So what we're referring to is when the grand wagon
here and the wagon here launched, it was like a sub-brand, right, for Jeep. And it had no Jeep
badges whatsoever, and it didn't make sense to a lot of us. Yeah. So it just had a big wagon here
across the front and across the tailgate. But I think now it's proper, right? It's part of...
You buy them at the same dealership, right? You're not going to a Wagoneer dealership.
Right. Exactly. And I like this new front-end look on here, the new lighting and everything.
Yeah. I think it's... I mean, it wasn't the complete redesign, obviously, because the vehicle is
mostly the same. They just changed the headlamps and kind of the face of it, right? Yeah. And they
took a lot from the design of the Wagoneer S, the EV, you know, added this light strip in here.
And I think it's a good look. It makes it look a little sleeker.
Yeah. So the Gladiator soldiers on... Do you know anything? Can you share anything?
Because the Gladiator is getting long on the tooth. I mean, it came out as a 2020 model.
Have you heard anything about, like, redesigning it or anything like that? Yeah. I think 2028
timeframe is when... 27 or probably late 27 or early 28 is when we'll see a next generation.
And I think this is going to share a platform with the RAM midsize truck, the Dakota.
So recently, they had an event and Tim confirmed that the midsize RAM truck is going to be called
Dakota. And that's a Toledo, correct? That's going to be built in Toledo, yeah. Which is where these
are built, right? Yup. And the Wrangler, too. So we'll probably see them share an architecture
all based off of variation of the Stella Frame architecture. So we'll probably see an update
of both this and the Wrangler around the similar timeframe.
That would be exciting because I heard a lot of rumors and a lot of forums talking about
that this was a one generation vehicle that was going to go away in a one and done type of thing.
But I was hoping it wouldn't be true. Yeah. We'll see. And it seems like it's not quite...
I mean, plans are changing all the time. So it's entirely possible that they might decide
not to continue with this. They might decide that the Dakota is a better way to go for a
midsize. Or they might keep this around. I'm hoping they keep this. And by the way, if they're
using the same platform, why not? It's relatively... And you've got a lot of the same sheet metal from
the Wrangler. It wouldn't be that crazy expensive to do both. I hope they go that way. Speaking of
changes, I mean, we see a lot of quick changes in the industry these days, right?
Constantly, yeah. I mean, you've been around, like you said, in history for 40 years plus.
It used to take a lot longer, isn't it, to just make adjustments? Or is it true?
It was as much... I think the time it takes to develop a new vehicle has gotten a little bit
faster. But it's still three to four years to develop a new vehicle from scratch. But what
has been changing a lot is the product plans. So they'll start down the path of developing something
and decide, nope, that's the wrong direction. We need to drop this and do something different.
And so that's something that we haven't really seen so much of before.
Yeah, just kind of readjustment of the timelines, I guess.
Yeah, adjusting timelines and adjusting what products they're doing based on market conditions.
You got changing regulations, changing consumer demand. They have to adapt to that.
So we just walked into the Ford space. Ford obviously also has a gigantic presence at the show,
a very large booth. We kind of walked by past a couple of Broncos and did it on purpose because
it's a whole different kind of show. But in the truck space, they're still...
Actually, they dropped a couple of hints. Were you at the event last night?
No, not that one, but I was at a backgrounder on Monday.
So check this out, because one of the Ford executives was up there yesterday and I was there.
He said, oh, by the way, the Ranger tremor will be returning. So that was a nugget that I kind of
caught in that presentation. And also a special Carhartt version of the Super Duty was going to
come and they teased it with a wheel. They showed a wheel that kind of looked like...
They said it was inspired by a Detroit manhole cover that you see on the street.
Yeah, they've got some really interesting manhole covers in this town, especially cast
with some intricate designs on them. And so it would make sense to have a badge that takes
inspiration from that. Yeah, so obviously they haven't updated their Super Duty in a while.
I mean, 2023 was kind of the year where they kind of changed the face of it, the front end.
They did some engine updates. Yeah, they did a lot of upgrades for 23.
And they considered it a generational upgrade. And those were some pretty substantial changes done
at that time. So there are also a lot of rumors. We live in a day and age where you see a lot of
like AI based imagery or video and somebody told me that. But you guys would never create anything
like that. No, no, but I want to differentiate what I'm doing is because I'm not saying a
caterpillar pickup truck is going to be here tomorrow. That's not what I'm doing. I've done
something before where I have an idea in my head like a lower TRX and I use AI just to create
that image. But we're very clear this is my rendering. This is my thoughts. Not, oh look,
it's coming tomorrow. Yeah, that type of thing. If you look at my YouTube feed, you'll see all
kinds of nonsense popping up on there. The reason why I mentioned this is because somebody said
at Detroit in 2026, we're going to see an eight liter power stroke diesel that's coming tomorrow.
Yeah. Well, there's no engine news here. So so and also somebody said there's going to be a new
Duramax V8 8.3 liter. That's also not here. We'll show the GM in a second. So Ford has the
entire lineup here. The Ranger Raptor is here, which we actually used to own a TFL truck.
Yeah, that's still my favorite of the off-road midsize trucks.
Above all of them. Yeah. Yeah, I would agree with you. I would agree with you. I would agree with you.
It's just it seems like the right size, the right power. That's a nice balance. Yeah, it's
like, you know, the ATV, the Canyon AT4X AEV edition, you know, it's awesome. But, you know,
it's also really high up. You have to jump into it. It's funny. When I had one last summer,
I was looking at the payload sticker and I had a payload of 850 pounds. My next door neighbors
have a 2022 Maverick hybrid, just the base, the one they used to sell for 20 grand,
which has a 1,500 pound payload capacity. Almost twice. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's really interesting.
And these Rangers actually have decent payload. In fact, if we check this one,
I'll bet you it'll be around 1,400 probably. Probably, yeah. Which is actually,
you know, I'm a big dude, 1,340. Okay. So we're not far off. That's still respectable. Yeah,
we're not far off because, you know, I'm not going to say exactly how much I weigh, but if you put
four adults, four adult men into a Canyon, well, in this thing, you're still going to have
several hundred pounds left. A little bit left. In that Canyon. You're going to be near the top.
Nothing. Yes. Can't take anything else with you. Speaking of Mavericks, there is a couple of Mavericks
here. Can you tell me a little bit about Nactoy? Yeah. What happened there? So in the
the North American car truck and utility of the year, the truck of the year
was won by the Maverick Lobo. Oh, this one. Yeah. This one. Okay. This was the winner.
Oh, there it is. It even has a plaque on it. Of course. Yes. They have all that stuff prepared
in advance, you know, just in case they win. Okay. So that was announced today. That was announced,
yeah, about three hours ago. Fresh off the presses, so to speak. So Lobo is a new trim level,
really. But it's also kind of a signal, at least in my mind. And I want to see if you agree
that kind of the street, slightly lowered truck are making the resurgence. Yeah. I mean,
with trucks being so popular, manufacturers are looking for any way to potentially expand the
market. And so, you know, the regular, you know, standard Mavericks and Rangers and so on, already
very popular. You know, what other niches can they find, you know, based on the existing platforms
they've got. And so this, you know, based on the Maverick, there's already the F-150 Lobo.
Yeah, it's actually... I would be surprised if we don't see a Ranger Lobo at some point. Oh,
it's over here. Let's take a look. You know, for the F-150 Lobo, they didn't lower it as much as
they did with the Maverick. Yeah, that's my kind of a comment. So they made it level. So if you
take a wide view, sorry about that, if you take a wide view, they lowered it in the back about
two inches. Right. So it looks level, which I like. Yeah. But there's still space. There's still a
lot of space between the wheel and the fender. Yeah. So I kind of wanted it to look much lower.
Yeah. And I wouldn't be surprised if they do that at some point, you know. If it's popular, right?
Yeah. If it's popular, if they think that there's a market for it, they will certainly build it.
And you mentioned something else, like you mentioned possibility of a Ranger Lobo.
Yeah, I wouldn't rule out that possibility. Ford hasn't said anything about this. No,
they've not said anything. But if these two sell well, it would make sense for them to do a Ranger.
And they're doing tremors across the board. Exactly. So, you know, Lobos across the lineup
as well would make sense. That would make sense. Because they announced the Tremor Ranger coming
back. Yeah. So that's really interesting. Well, there's a lightning there. Yeah. But it's been
discontinued. Yeah. But they still have a bunch left to sell. Okay. And since this is, you know,
mainly a consumer show, you know, people from around Southeast Michigan, Northeast, Northwest,
Ohio are going to be coming here over the next week and a half to check out the new vehicles as
they get ready to buy. Yeah. This is something that they want to sell off. So Ford says in
a couple of years, the lightning will return. Yep. Right. But as a Ranger standard, right,
very similar to the Ram. Yes. So instead of a front here, you will have some sort of some kind
of engine and a generator, which is kind of a shame because I like this covered weather-protected
space that's in the front. Yeah. You know, you know, I think Ford did a lot right with this
truck when they built it. They got it to market quickly. It's rides really nice. Yeah. It's a
great truck. The only thing that it's not good at is towing long distances. Exactly. Everything
else, it's arguably the best F-150. I agree. Everything except long-distance towing. I agree.
And it's a shame that they're not going to have the bad version around. I would love to see them
keep that and offer the e-rev as well. But, you know, given the market realities, the e-rev is
probably the right choice for them to be making for this larger truck. I think so. And then as the
technology matures, right, the batteries may get cheaper and cheaper. Yeah. As you start to get the
LMR batteries that they've talked about, or, you know, structural battery packs. Different
chemistries, right? Get solid state, get higher energy density, and bring the cost to those batteries
down, then maybe come back and revisit the electric truck. Have you heard anything, any rumblings of,
remember the Model T moment? Yes. But they talked about the mid-size-ish, small-ish electric truck.
A Maverick-sized truck. Something like this. Have you heard anything else? Are we going to see a
concept or something else? Yeah. We will start to see some stuff from Ford over the next several
months. Okay. So that would be exciting. It's scheduled to go into production around the end of
the year. This in 2026? The end of 2026. Go on sale in 2027. Probably first half of 2027. Okay.
Production towards the end of the year. And they will start showing us more details on that truck
this year. I did get one interesting detail last week. I was at a dinner, while I was at CES,
I was at a dinner with some Ford executives. And, you know, if you follow the EV space,
you know, one of the things that a lot of manufacturers have had issues with is 12-volt
batteries dying. Yeah. And when you guys bought a Cybertruck last year, that one had no 12-volt
battery in it. No, it was 48 volt. Yeah. That's what's going to be in the Universal Electric
vehicle platform as well. The Ford... Very interesting. So... Are you for that? Are you
pretty excited by that? Yeah. You know, we've had 48-volt technology around for things like
mild hybrids like that e-torque system on the RAM for quite some time. Yeah. But the problem is,
there's still a lot of other systems in the vehicles that are designed to run at 12 volts.
All the lights, all the switches. Yeah. All the, you know, all the ventilation fans. Computers.
Everything. Yeah. Designed to run at 12 volts. And so that's why, you know, you had this mix of
12 and 48 volt architectures on vehicles. Well, what's happened in the last few years is a lot
of the suppliers that build those components have started to actually redesign those things
to run at 48 volts. So you think it was a little bit... Catalyst was a Cybertruck maybe? That was
probably one of the catalysts. Yeah. Okay. Okay. You know, and just in general, I think, you know,
there's interest from the industry broadly to go to 48 volts because 48 higher voltage,
you can make the wires thinner, you can reduce the amount of copper, you can reduce some of the costs,
simplify things. And so you're going to see more 48 volt systems in the coming years.
It's exciting. Yeah. But that Ford electric truck is going to be one of the first from a
legacy automaker. From Ford. Yeah. I'm actually really happy to hear that because I've studied
the Cybertruck system, you know, I was looking and listening and studying that system and just
the amount of power and also, like you said, weight reduction, cost reduction potentials,
and also the heat pump. Yeah. Like how it integrates with those climate control systems.
Yeah. So, you know, when they did the lightning, you know, they used a lot of off the shelf stuff
from Standard F-150. Yeah. A lot of the heating and ventilation
elements and that added to the costs. And so with this new vehicle, it's being designed
really from the ground up as an EV and really being optimized for that. And I think that's going to,
you know, that's that smaller truck, I think will be a much better application for most people
for that are interested in going electric and want to pick up truck rather than the full size.
All right. So now we've traveled and we're standing in the GMC booth. So this is a general
motors area. There's also Chevrolet. So let's do a quick, quick run, run down. So in the GMC
space, we had the heavy duty truck, light duty, and also you could see prominently a couple of
electric CRs, right? Yep. And don't forget the Corvette ZR1X. Yes. Maybe we can get a glance at that.
But I think that's interesting that GM is actually expanding their lineup of electric
trucks because we have an 84 kind of an off-road model. We have a little bit more basic
LT model as well. Yeah, they've kind of shifted like with the Silverado and Sierra EVs, they've
kind of shifted the model lineups a little bit because when they launched Silverado EV,
you had the work truck and you had this high end RST model. And they've gotten rid of that.
Yeah. And they're letting GMC handle that luxury truck with the Denali. Yeah. And so they've got
now you've got the work truck and with the LT, I think, or LTZ, and then the Trail Boss. Trail Boss,
yeah. And then GMC, they've also got an 84 and the Denali. Well, you can see it here.
They also have the elevation. The elevation. That's GMC language for kind of a base. Yeah. So now
you've got a little bit less overlap. They're filling in the gaps in there. And the pricing
coming down, right? So with smaller batteries, a little bit simpler equipment, right? You're
starting with about 65 grand, maybe with destinations going to be more, because destinations, like we
said, are growing and growing. Well, one important thing to keep in mind with General Motors is that
Oh, they include it. They, in the prices that they advertise, they include the destination charge.
So that's out the door. Thank you, General Motors, because I've noticed Toyota doesn't do that,
some others don't do that. Very, almost no one does. Ford doesn't do that. Nobody else does it.
That's really cool that these prices are actually true. Yeah. Yes. So that's great.
There's this 84X EV edition that you mentioned, but it's very tall. Tall, but if you want an
off-roader, an off-road version, an off-road GM midsize truck, this is the top of the line.
So I was talking to Case, my colleague about this, and we really call this guy the rock crawler.
Yeah. I know these trucks, any truck, will do everything. This is as close as you get to a
Wrangler from General Motors. Exactly. Exactly. Because it's sitting higher, it's using 35 inch
tall tires from the factory. It's got the suspension and the locking differentials to back it up.
And because of the 35s, that means they can't mount the spare tire underneath the bed,
so you have to use up a big chunk of your bed. Yeah. That tire is heavy. Yes. Because when I had
this thing, I had to haul some brush to the township compost site. Okay. And so I took that
thing out of there and tried to lift that thing back in to put it back. I think you're talking
what, about 60, 70 pounds maybe? Yeah, at least that. Yeah, at least that. And also visibility.
Yes. Oh yeah. You basically have no visibility on the back. Because the rear of your mirror
is coming through. And they don't have the digital camera mirror on the canyon. So
basically you don't see anything out the back. Because between the spare tire and then the
headrest on the other side there, it basically blocks off the entire rear view. So you kind of
have to use your side mirrors. Yeah. Kind of like a, I don't know, commercial truck. Or just, you know,
drive like a typical Michigan driver that doesn't use the mirrors anyway. Okay, we won't talk about
that. I live here, so I can say. Well, yeah, yeah. Let's swing around the Corvette CX,
because that's a gorgeous thing. And we could check, we could check into Chevy, what Chevy is up to.
But like you said, so Detroit Auto Show, it's in January, right? It was, I mean, it switched to
the summer for a couple of years, right? Yeah. But truly it's like the first show of the season.
Yes. Of the year. And it used to have all the manufacturers here, right? Yeah. It used to be
everybody from around the world was here. Yeah. You know, when Chinese automakers first started
coming to North America, this is where they displayed in like 2007, 2008. And now it's just
really focused on Detroit, really, really Michigan. Well, we're here, that Corvette ZR1X, they just
released a video yesterday. I saw that. Quarter mile, 8.67 seconds. Yes. At 159 miles an hour.
And a 0 to 60 of 1.6 something. Yeah. 1.6 and then change. Yeah. I didn't,
it's all wheel drive, right? So that's helping. Yeah. So they combined the Twin Turbo LT5 with
the hybrid system from the E-Ray on the front axle. Yeah. So 1250 horsepower. And really,
that's 1.6 something time. Yeah. It's faster than any Tesla Plaid. Yeah. Technically speaking.
Yeah. So combust. Theoretically, if they ever build the next Tesla Roadster, it's supposed to be
faster than that. Sure. Using rocket boosters, right? Yeah. But you know, never just don't ever
actually build that. Well, they announced that Tesla Roadster, what, years, seven years ago?
2017. Okay. Almost nine years ago? Yeah. Okay. So I actually used to own the Colorado Trail Boss.
Yeah, I remember. So mine was an interesting color. I actually like that color. Oh,
I appreciate it. Because a lot of people make fun of me for that color. But I'm a fan of bold colors.
I think there's way too many silver and black and white and monochrome shades. You know,
Ford booth had some color. Yeah, they did. When those Mavericks. But this is an interesting
addition. This is a two celebrating America USA with 1776, kind of a 250th anniversary of the
country. So it's got a couple of, you know, the sports bar rack. It's not supposed to be...
More for mounting your lights on it. It's not supposed to be a roll bar. So please don't roll
your vehicles. Okay. I mean, you don't want to roll your vehicle anyway, regardless. Yes. Yes.
So, and then over there, there's some color. Over there, there's a Trail Boss. Yeah,
Silverado EB. Silverado EB. But once again, there is no Duramax news. No. Right. No news at all
from GM here this week. But I think they're also showing, and I'll do a separate video about this,
they're showing their 2027 Bolt. So the bolt is coming back. Yeah. So there's one right there.
Nice bright orange. Oh, hey, there's some color. Yeah. There's a bunch of color here. It's great.
All right. All right. So now we got a transition. Toyota. Toyota. Yes. We have to go to Toyota,
because we'll mention, you know, all of the big three, but Toyota is a humongous many others
make most in the world. They are the largest automaker in the world. Yes. They sell about 10
million vehicles a year. So that's not necessarily true. They're not the biggest in the US.
By vehicle count. No. I think they're second or second. They're up there. Yeah. They're up there.
Also not tremendous news, right? Yeah. No, no, no news that I'm aware of from Toyota,
but they have their Tundras and their Tacomas here. I want to mention some news as far as sales
numbers are concerned. You know, I love numbers, right? So as we're looking at some of the trucks
here, there are Tacoma. Where is the Tacoma? Right there. The sales were going through the
roof. Yeah. Did you notice that? Yeah, I saw that. What was it? Was it $278,000 last year? Yes.
I think that was the best year ever for Tacoma in the US. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's been the best
selling midsize pickup in North America for a long time and, you know, for a lot of good reasons.
You know, it's generally been very reliable. You know, I mean, there's some things that some
of the competitors do better, certainly in terms of cabin space. And maybe payload and towing.
Some of them have higher numbers. Yeah. But overall, you know, they cover a lot of ground
with this truck. And it's also one of the few or one of the only ones that's still available
with a choice of crew cab or just a regular extended cab. And I think you can still get
the SR5 single cab, right? Yeah. Yeah. But it has no, it doesn't have the rear doors,
but it's still an extended cab. Okay. Yes. But still, it's an option you can't get from
the Detroit automakers anymore. No. They only do crew cab now. In the mid-sizes. Yeah. And also,
the only new truck available with the manual. Yes. Yeah. Because they dropped the frontier
manual, right? Frontier manual is dropped when they're upgraded to the engine, the 3.8. And the
Gladiator manual transmission is also discontinued. Okay. So if you wanted to row your own gears,
the Tacoma for 2026 is the only game in town. And I wanted to ask you about this,
because Tacoma has been around, well, they used to be called the pickup, right? But the Tacoma
name continuously has been around. Ford kind of walked away from the Ranger market for many years.
What was your perspective on that? You know, I think Ford had some interesting rationale for
discontinuing the Ranger in North America in like 2010 and 2011 when they did. Yes. Which was that,
you know, the cost differential to build a Ranger versus an F-150 was pretty small.
And the Ranger wasn't really getting better fuel economy than an F-150 at the time.
So, you know, it didn't, you know, for a lot of customers, it didn't necessarily make sense to
buy a Ranger over an F-150. But as the price of F-150s kept climbing, climbing, climbing through
the 2010s, then they had to rethink that and say, okay, we need a more affordable offering. And so
they brought back the Ranger to North America. Plus, you know, there was obviously some demand.
Toyota was selling a ton of these. Nissan was selling a ton of frontiers. GM had brought back
the Canyon in Colorado and were doing well. So Ford brought back the Ranger, you know, to give
a price point below where F-150 was. As F-150, you know, climbed into the 50,000s and up price range,
then Ranger fit into that mid-30s to $50,000 range. And then they brought in the Maverick at the
bottom end of the range. Yeah. But isn't it true? Because I started really, I mean, I was always
an enthusiast, but I entered the industry in about 2011. The Ranger was the best seller
what in the 90s and early 2000s. I mean, it sold, outsold Tacomas, right? Yeah.
And that was kind of a bummer in my mind for Ford. Yeah. Well, Ford didn't update it for a long time.
And then they decided... It kind of got stale. It got stale. And then as the market shifted from the
more compact to the mid-size trucks, they didn't really update the Ranger to fit that market.
And so eventually they just discontinued it entirely. And then, you know, but they kept,
they discontinued it in North America. They kept it globally. The rest of the world got a new generation
mid-size Ranger, which eventually we got here as well. I know. Yeah. Yeah. But I want to mention,
you mentioned, you know, the overall size of the vehicle. I'm not sure how big your garage here
is in Michigan. My Colorado garage at my house is about 19 feet long. So an F-150 usually doesn't
fit lengthwise. Yeah. And sometimes height... And that's another consideration for customers.
It's a challenge too. Yeah. If they want to park their trucks inside the garage,
buying a full size, in most places, you can't do that. And the heavy duty, forget about it.
That Colorado over there is towering over most things. Yeah. Well, my garage, you know, I can fit
a mid-size truck in there, but my garage door is only seven feet high. Yeah. And so I cannot
put one of those in there. Even if it was long enough, it's too tall to fit. So this Tacoma has
a rack here. By the way, it says Toyota on it. So they're kind of expending their accessories.
This is not quite seven feet, but this is getting close to what some of the heights
requirements are. Or maybe even garages, right? Yeah. Parking garages around the city. Yeah.
Absolutely. So I think that's why I was looking at the sales data for mid-sizers. They're growing,
the entire market. I think they grew 20% year over year for all of the mid-sizers combined.
Yeah. And like I said, as the full size trucks get more and more expensive,
consumers are looking at what can they afford and what, you know, can these trucks actually
deliver what they need, what they want in a truck. And for what most people are using a truck for,
you know, going out and going to their big box store and buying 15 or 20 bags of mulch,
you can put those in the back of a Tacoma or other mid-size trucks. Or a Maverick.
Yeah. Or a Maverick for that matter. Maverick or even a Hyundai Santa Cruz.
Are you surprised? I've had 15 bags of mulch in the back of a Santa Cruz.
Yes. Yes. Are you surprised that like Toyota and many other manufacturers are not competing with
the Maverick? I am. You know, I'm surprised that there hasn't been more movement in that
smaller compact space. Toyota is working on the stout, although from what I'm hearing that
program got pushed back a couple of years. So it may be closer to 2030 before we see it.
But yeah, I do expect to see at some point over the next several years at least one or two more
compact trucks. Well, there's a lot of expertise in this area because every manufacturer has,
I mean, there is a Corolla Cross, right? Yeah. I mean, they all have small vehicle
carriages. Yeah. The Maverick and the Santa Cruz are both based on compact crossover platforms.
And so you got Corolla Cross, you got RAV4. Either of those could potentially be, you know,
a Maverick. A candidate for that. And then you have Honda with a lot of strength in that area,
too, and many others, right? Yeah. So, you know, Honda could do something below the ridgeline.
Yeah. You know, based on the CR-V or HR-V. I'm actually really hoping, and I think,
I don't know if you, I was listening to your podcast, Wheel Bearings podcast,
I'm really hoping that, because the pilot has been refreshed, I'm really hoping they do that
refresh to the ridgeline. And also there's the EREV plug-in hybrid tech, right? Not EREV,
but plug-in hybrid tech coming to Honda, right? Yes. So I was in Japan in October, late October,
for the Japan Mobility Show with Honda, and they took us to the Tachigi Proving Grounds,
and they showed us their next generation hybrid and their larger vehicle platforms.
And so we, you know, there will be, you know, a next generation of the pilot
and the ridgeline and the Odyssey coming off of this platform, and actually probably the new
RDX that Honda just announced, you know, next generation RDX that's coming in the next couple
of years. And so that will probably be on that same architecture. And so, you know, I definitely
expect an all-new ridgeline based off that platform, and perhaps even something smaller.
Yeah, that would be really exciting because people, a lot of people forget that the ridgeline
is there, but it's continued since 2006, right? I mean, it's almost 20 years.
Yeah, it's been around a long time. It's almost 20 years of ridgeline, and I think it's-
Yeah, it doesn't sell on the kind of numbers of the domestic trucks, but then again, because it's
based on that same architecture with the Odyssey and the pilot, you know, and they're built on
the same assembly lines, the incremental cost for Honda is not enormous, so it makes sense for
them to continue building it if they're selling 35,000, 40,000 a year, which is what they've been
doing. Yeah, we keep an eye on the local use car auction, and Roman recently found and grabbed and
bought a 2008 ridgeline. Yeah, I saw it. What, about 200,000 miles on it? Almost, 195,000-ish,
and I just drove it, we have a video about it, and it's really solid after 195 miles.
Do you want one of these? That's not a truck. No. That's a Cadillac Formula 1 truck. But it'll haul.
It will haul something. Yes. Not mulch. Yeah, no. It won't haul mulch, but this will. Yeah.
A Hummer EV will haul some mulch. It will, it will absolutely will. Somebody in my neighborhood
last fall or last summer, actually, they had a Tesla Model Y and they got rid of it and got one
of these instead. And this is what we're looking at here is the Hummer EV pickup truck 3X is a
3-motor system, which is their most powerful. And this is a carbon addition because you need to
lightweight the Hummer, right? Yeah, I mean, when I had, when I first had one, I took it to the
Wayscales, it was 9,200 pounds. Yeah. And I think you guys, because you had, you put the larger
tires on there. We put 37s, like 9,300 pounds or maybe a little bit more. Yeah. So I'm making a
little bit of a joke of this, but there is carbon fiber actual genuine pieces on this.
Absolutely. I mean, you know, that's, that's what you need in a 9,000-pound off-road truck, right?
But also the wheels. So I was talking to some engineers, you could, you could take maybe a
close at the wheels. The wheels is actually kind of makes sense because you're removing
unsprung mass. And also they were telling me a side effect that they found was the carbon wheel
makes a little bit less noise as it goes over large events like potholes or something like that.
So which is important in an electric vehicle because you don't want to hear the noises
coming from other components. On the other hand, you know, if you're going off-road and you hit some
rocks with those wheels and scratch it, yeah, that's going to get very expensive. I don't even
know how much one of these would be cost, but I don't want to find out. Those are probably about
six or seven thousand dollars each. That's what you think? Yeah. I, well, if you can afford a
hundred and twenty thousand dollars as a truck, yeah, maybe you could tolerate replacing a wheel.
I mean, hopefully. I hope so. But it's not for you and I. No, no. It's a little out of my price range.
All right. So there's also- You guys don't pay me enough to help with these videos, so.
I don't think we're paying you anything. My point exactly. So as we wrap up, there's a lot of indoor
driving here. Yeah. There's actually combustion engines running around here too. Yes. So not just
electric. So don't bring it too hard. So you could check out, I mean, there's good ventilation.
No, yeah. I mean, it's a big, it's a big. Yeah, I'm not worried about that, but we have different
brand new vehicles that you couldn't take rides in. And also, there is an overland area. Did you
check out the overland area? I did not. You see that? It's in the corner. Oh, okay. As we're kind
of heading back. So Ford also had some news with RTR. Yes. RTR. And I want to ask you about this.
If that's also not a trend. So we talked about kind of lowered vehicles, lowered pickup trucks
becoming a little bit of a trend. Also, a trend of taking an aftermarket company like RTR,
that you see here with the Mustangs and the Broncos, and actually folding it into the factory.
Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I mean, this is actually a trend that goes back to at least
the 1960s. When Ford first teamed up with Carroll Shelby in the 1960s on the Mustang,
the first few years, the original GT350s were built at Shelby American facility, California.
They would ship cars from the Ford assembly plant to Shelby pre-title. They would do the
modifications, turn them into a GT350 and later GT500 and then send them to the dealers. And this,
and then eventually Ford started building those in their own, right on their own assembly lines.
Based on the designs and everything from Shelby. That's pretty much what's happening right now
with RTR. They started off having RTR taking pre-title cars and Mustangs and Broncos from
Ford. And of course, you know, Celine has done that for decades. Oh yeah. There's Roush. I mean,
there's a many number of companies. And so, but the cost of doing that is much higher than
building it in the factory. So, you know, RTR is still offering their spec series Broncos and
Mustangs. So if you want something really specific, you can go to RTR and they will get,
they will order the factory, order the vehicle from the factory, they will modify it,
upfit it with their stuff and then send it to your dealer for you to purchase.
But now, for the Bronco for 2027, they're doing the RTR versions right in the Michigan Assembly
plant, not far from here, but 10 miles from here. Speaking of which, this is a great Segway. I
haven't planned that Segway. Those are the best kind of Segways. But the Segway, the Segway is that
AEV, American Expedition Vehicle, is a separate company. And yes, they're doing a Ford. But this
Bison, that what underpins this heavy duty Silverado and this Colorado, that's done at the GM
factory. Oh, so they're doing it in the factory on the assembly lines now? Yeah, so the bumpers,
the bumpers, the skid plates, some of the other components get shipped to the GM factory and they
get put on actually at the factory for the GM trucks. That's not happening with Ram or Ford.
But now they also have the Ford FXL package on only 40s. Yeah, of course. Would it be
worth it to do it with anything less? No, no. But actually, it doesn't look, it looks proportional
actually. Yeah, well, I'm going to have to show this to my neighbor because my neighbor has been
building his own overlanding rig. A couple years ago, he bought an F550 chassis cab and he got a
camper here as well. Yeah, and he installed a liquid spring suspension in it. And he puts some
35s on it. It's a, you know, it's a duly. Oh, cute. Yeah, very cute. Yeah, they look so cute.
But he, you know, he was he was concerned about going bigger than that, just because of the clearance,
you know, because then he would have to start cutting up the front fenders. Yeah. But clearly,
it's possible to put 40s on that truck. So I'll show it to Mark and you know, he may want to do
all there is a Dave Heraton, CEO of American Expedition Vehicles is right there. I actually
had an interview with him. So we have a different, a separate video on tieraltiefall.com. And
he walked me through every inch of this for it. Did they have to cut up the fenders to fit them?
Not a lot. Oh, okay. According to him, they did build, they did build special, very, very strong
fender flares. Okay. You could, you could knock it actually, it's actually built like a tube. Oh,
like a shape tube. So it has some strength in it. Oh, right. But this truck does sit,
it has a four inch suspension lift. And the tire, because it's such a big tire,
adds another about three inches. So we're talking about seven inches of additional height. And I'm
not a small dude. Yeah. And I'm standing next to this truck. So, but he said not a lot of cutting
was involved. Okay. So it's almost like Ford has actually enough space in there. Yeah. Well,
I think I think one of the things that also kept my neighbor using it, using 35s instead of going
larger than that was the height when he puts the camper on. Because with the camper, it's
almost 13 feet tall. And so when he first went to get it, he had some, he was concerned about
a flatbed on it too. Yeah. Because he was concerned about going under some of the overpasses.
Yeah. But, but not just overpasses, but also to get in and out of it. Yeah. Because the camper,
if it's sitting, I don't know, five feet off the ground, you have to have like a staircase.
Yeah. Just like this one right here. Yeah. You have to. So this is a,
this is a truck house. That's, that's the name of the, the body builder for the camper. And you
could see there is a four step staircase and there's a little bit of space even below it.
Yeah. Mark's, I think has two or three steps to get up into it. So, yes. So that's, and now kind of
AEV, they're having a lot better integration. They're partnering with truck house. Basically.
Yeah. Basically, they're partnering together. So the integration is a lot more close. Okay. So
you can actually buy this camper. So maybe AEV tunes the suspension and everything to
accommodate the weight of the camper and the capability. And you can see even the,
the protection underneath. So it's all tied in together. So that's quite interesting.
Well, we, I think we most walked most of it. Yeah. I mean, there's more than I actually
thought when we first walked in here this morning. Yeah. Because I hadn't even noticed all this back
here. Oh, and also don't tell anybody. There's also US Army in the corner here. And they have a
couple of light vehicles. Okay. That you can check out too. And I heard the rumor, I think,
I don't know if you heard about this tomorrow, that there's a new concept Abrams tank. Have you
heard of this? I've heard, I've heard that they were going to be showing something. Yeah. So I
heard a rumor that there might be a tank coming out at the show as well. Not on this floor because
I think I don't know how the floor can support a 60 ton tank. I think this floor would crumble.
Yeah. But what doesn't crumble is when you have a light tactical vehicle like this. Yeah. Which
is actually a Colorado. Yeah. It's a Chevy Colorado. That's built by GM Defense. Yeah.
Yeah. So, so if you want to see some of these vehicles, just here's a little glimpse.
Look how simple it is. Yeah. What else do you need for this use case? Yeah. And what I noticed,
Sam? The seats heated and the steering wheel and everything. But what are the gauges?
Good question. I don't think you need to know. Yeah.
If you need to know. If you're driving over desert terrain, it's probably not that important. No,
no. It's all about, I'm not a member of the military, but I think it's just as slow as
necessary or as fast as necessary, right? Depends what you're running from or running to. Exactly.
So we could interview some of the specialists here, but I'm guessing you don't need to know a lot.
More seats in the back too. So we got eight seats all together.
Yeah. Actually, five. Five plus four. Nine. Nine. Yeah. This is like a minivan. Yeah.
A better than a minivan. Yeah. A minivan's all he holds up.
All right, Sam. I really appreciate it. Oh, it's getting spent time with you. I'll buy you lunch,
okay? Okay. Thanks. I appreciate it. Thank you for joining us. We'll see you next time.
About this episode
The 2026 Detroit Auto Show showcased a variety of trucks, highlighting both innovative and traditional designs. Hosts discuss the Ram 1500 Rev, a range-extended electric truck, and its potential pricing advantages. They also delve into the return of the TRX and new models from Ford and GM, including the Ranger Tremor and GMC's electric offerings. Insights from industry veteran Sam Abel Semed provide depth to the conversation, covering trends in electric vehicles, hybrid technology, and the evolving landscape of midsize trucks. The episode captures the excitement and challenges of the current automotive market.
( https://www.alltfl.com/ ) Check out our new spot to find ALL our content, from news to videos and our podcasts! In this episode of TFL Talkin’ Trucks, Andre hits the floor at the 2026 Detroit Auto Show with industry expert Sam Abuelsamid to check out the best and worst trucks manufacturers had to offer this year. From exciting new debuts and surprise reveals to head-scratching design choices and missed opportunities, Andre breaks down which trucks impressed in person—and which ones left him wondering what the automakers were thinking.
The Detroit Auto Show is all about the future of trucks, and Andre digs into the latest trends in design, powertrains, technology, and capability. Whether it’s bold new concepts, refreshed pickups, or trucks that completely missed the mark, this episode delivers a boots-on-the-ground look at what’s coming next—and what maybe shouldn’t have made it to the show floor.
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