Ever since the two Hellcat cars have been released a few
years back people have been wondering how a truck sporting the same engine
would feel. Also, not too long ago rumors started to surface about it after a
certain FCA official said that they are actually considering a Hellcat truck,
news which made a lot of people really hyped about it. While so far we only had
the official statement about the upcoming Hellcat truck, not too long ago not
one but two of them have been spied with no camouflage on them.
These new
trucks seem to be based on the Ram Power Wagon and not on the regular smaller
version of the truck which also means that it will most likely be released as
the Ram Heavy Duty Hellcat, a really interesting truck and certainly a really
nice surprise from Ram.
You may also like: 2017 Power Wagon Laramie
Like we mentioned, the two spied trucks were using the same
body style and likely a very similar suspension setup to those of the Power
Wagon but there are also clear differences between the two which tell us that
these two are no regular trucks. Also, on top of these trucks it seems that Ram
wants to dethrone the Raptor which has been the top choice for many years
mostly because it had no competitor. This will certainly change and considering
that they will be offering more power it should make for a clear winner.
The only problem we see so far with the upcoming Ram Heavy
Duty Hellcat is the price of the truck which is expected to start north of
$70,000. While this would be perfectly fine for a sedan, a truck would be a
tough sell despite all the power it can offer. We really do hope that Ram will
sell their truck for less than $60,000, price at which it will have no problem
to beat the Raptor if it will handle itself on and off the road.
At first many of us thought that the Hellcat Ram would be in
fact designed as a street truck, similar to what the SRT-10 was before it.
However, this would make little to no sense considering that it would have a
really tough time selling at that price point. Instead, the Power Wagon chassis
and running gear would make a lot more sense because it would give the truck
the ability to handle itself off the road and the massive engine would provide
the torque needed for heavy towing or rock crawling without any issues. Just
like with what Ford did to their Raptor, the Hellcat Ram would likely be
offered with the same type of interior as a medium to high level spec of the
usual truck. The only real differences would include new seats and likely a new
instrument cluster.
Ram Heavy Duty Hellcat Engine - prediction!
The most interesting part of the upcoming Ram Heavy Duty
Hellcat though has to be the one that gives its name, the engine. This will be
a 6.2 liter supercharged aluminum V8 which will put out up to 707 horsepower
and 650 lb-ft of torque, nearly as much torque as the inline6 Cummins with
double the horsepower. This means that they will likely have to improve the
running gear and axles in order to handle all that power, so expect beefier
differentials as well as larger brakes all around the truck. A new 6 speed
automatic gearbox is also expected to be used and unlike the two smaller cars
using this engine, the truck will only be offered with a four wheel drive
system. In terms of raw performance, the Hellcat Ram should have no problem
outrunning the Raptor while being able to tow and offer a more manageable
torque curve than it.
