Is Ram Slowly Killing Its Iconic Crosshair Grille?

"Blake Noble" (blake-noble) 02/13/2015 at 09:00 • Filed to: Truck No!, Ram, 2015 Ram 1500 Laramie, 2015 Ram 1500 Rebel, Chicago Auto Show, Grilles, Opinion

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Ram's iconic crosshair grille is one of its signature trademarks. It's also been around now for over 20 years. When a Ram truck — usually lifted, with cheesy rims and toting a Magpul sticker in the rear window — rolls up behind you in traffic, you expect to see it in your rear view mirror. But soon, that could change.

Both the Detroit and Chicago auto shows saw Ram introduce new models. The first was the off-road focused Ram 1500 Rebel ( shown above) shown at the Detroit show last month. The most recent is the lavishly-trimmed Ram 1500 Laramie Limited ( shown below ), which was just unveiled at Chicago.

While critics elsewhere have made jabs at both trucks for the reproachful size of their tailgate logos, they're missing the bigger story here. What's really interesting to note is that both trucks have unique grilles that do away with the signature Ram crosshair grille. This could be a sign of what's to come.

When news first broke of the Ram Rebel, Mopar-centric fansite Allpar promptly floated the idea that the new model !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! :

It seems unlikely that the Ram Rebel will be the only truck with this appearance; it seems to be a test of the overall look, which could be adopted in somewhat less aggressive form by the '16s, which are listed in the FCA long term plan.
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Allpar, which actually has a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! when it comes to future products from FCA, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! when it recently released its write-up on the new Laramie Limited:

The Ram 1500 is due for a refresh in model-year 2016, so it's possible that Rebel and Laramie Limited are partly design experiments.

However, Allpar isn't the first to suggest that a future Ram pickup would go for a brand-new look. In December 2013, Automotive News !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in a 30 second ad and what it could mean. Take a peak at the ad below:

For those of you who couldn't zero in on the exact moment, here's what you were looking for:

Interesting, right? And although a Ram spokesperson speaking to Automotive News at the time denied the sketch indicated the design of a future model, it sure appears mostly otherwise.

So future Ram trucks are likely losing the crosshair grille in favor of... well, something new. And that's honestly a shame. Once again, it's been around on the Ram truck as we know it for over 20 years. Love it or hate it, it's a sort of landmark design, and it makes a Ram truck distinctive without being too garish.

The grilles on both the Ram Rebel and Laramie Limited aren't exactly what you could call tasteful. No, the grille on the Laramie Limited tries too hard to be bold and interesting, and ultimately comes across as looking weird and overwrought. The grille on the Ram Rebel tries too hard to be masculine and aggressive, and winds up looking tasteless and stupid.

Ram, here's a solid piece of advice for you: if it ain't broke, please don't try to fix it. Thanks.

Image credits: Ram

Captain of the Enterprise > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 09:09

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I like this but they need to make the headlights different because they make the truck look sad in this picture. It's hard to change design language like their grille, but its seems to be slowly phasing out of all of their models. Design is a constant evolution and without change you fall behind.

Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 09:09

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It's not a Dodge anymore. Durango is the mantle bearer now. That and, you know, the Caravan.

CB > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 09:15

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!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Fixed it.

Blake Noble > Captain of the Enterprise 02/13/2015 at 09:19

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Design is a constant evolution and without change you fall behind.

And yet Porsche has been building the same VW Beetle now for over 50 years...

Bandit > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 09:25

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Why are there mustang headlights?

Captain of the Enterprise > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 09:27

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Yeah but the interior isn't the same, or the engine or the transmission, etc. I'm not trying to troll you I'm just saying in most cases vehicles don't look exactly the same for every model because a company like Ram probably wouldn't be selling a lot of trucks if they still looked like this:

Because the industry has moved on to this:

Blake Noble > Bandit 02/13/2015 at 09:28

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Ha! I noticed that too.

Come to think of it, when I first looked at the Laramie Limited grille, my first thought was: "Did they steal drawings for this while dumpster diving behind Ford HQ?" The whole "dual nostril" deal is pretty Ford-ish.

jariten1781 > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 09:28

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Ram, here's a solid piece of advice for you: if it ain't broke, please don't try to fix it. Thanks.

Chrysler has been getting its clock cleaned by Ford and GM since the end of the 90s. Last time they took the market was with the radical designs in 94. They're probably thinking on those lines again. However, these designs are dreadful compared to how the 94 shook the world (well, at least south Texas). I don't think it'll work out the same way this round if they do go this direction.

RazoE > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 09:33

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uh...

Blake Noble > jariten1781 02/13/2015 at 09:35

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Ram sales in 2014 totaled up to 439,789 trucks. That beats the 1994 - 2001 truck's best sales year of 1998 by more than 28,000 trucks. It's just 10,000 trucks shy of beating 2003's numbers.

Ram is slowly catching up to GM's figures and are roughly a third short of Ford's. I wouldn't exactly say GM and Ford are cleaning Ram's clock.

Blake Noble > Captain of the Enterprise 02/13/2015 at 09:42

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Right. But what I'm saying is that when you have a design that's as classic and recognizable as a Porsche 911 or even a Ram pickup, you keep that design intact while grooming and refining it over time. Designs like them don't particularly need revolution like what we're seeing here.

Ram earned a lot of loyal fans because of how their 1994 trucks looked. They could lose them if they muck about with their styling too much.

Blake Noble > RazoE 02/13/2015 at 09:47

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"Hey pig, piggy, pig, pig, pig..."

nermal > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 09:55

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Yes. They're moving from a cross-hair grille to a mushroom cloud grille.

Blake Noble > nermal 02/13/2015 at 09:56

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"Mushroom cloud grille..."

That's perfect.

Nibbles > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 10:01

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The crosshair grille is a Dodge trademark, not RAM

Blake Noble > Nibbles 02/13/2015 at 10:07

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It belongs to both.

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 10:14

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Ha! And I don't think it's just RAM. I posted this just a few weeks back.

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/is-dodge-movin…

Seems like Dodge is heading that way too.

Nibbles > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 10:17

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When they spun RAM off, it was to find its own identity. Yes, up until now, models have been carryovers with minor changes but now RAM gets to make their own decisions on styling cues and brand identity.

While researching this, I also found that Ralph Gilles said the crosshair grille is going away, for Dodge in general, in 2011. Maybe it's being completely phased out.

BigBlock440 > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 10:41

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I have a feeling that those numbers are going to slip if they keep this shit up.

Blake Noble > Nibbles 02/13/2015 at 10:58

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I take it you're referencing an Automotive News article from February 2011 .

To quote that article (emphasis mine):

Dodge vehicles eventually will evolve the split cross-hair grille now that Ram is a separate brand.

The cross-hair grille will remain the key styling element for Ram trucks.

So Dodge evolves the "split" crosshair grille. Which was this, as seen on the 2011 Dodge Charger:

The Dodge Dart was the first car to evolve the grille:

And now I think we're starting to see that evolution progress further on the 2015 Charger:

Also note: not all Dodge Dart and sub-SRT 2015 Charger models have the black bumper "bar."

As for why the Charger SRT Hellcat doesn't have a crosshair grille, that answer is simple. Per Allpar, again:

There are SRT badges hidden in the fascia, and a larger lower area for airflow; there was a lot of work in the wind tunnel to provide for the top speed of 204 mph without sacrificing cornering by losing downforce.

Back in 2011, Ralph Gillies said the Dodge would "go a different way." That doesn't exactly sound like he said "the crosshair grille will go away."

Going back to the main issue, Gillies did say way back then to Automotive News that keeping the crosshair grille intact for Ram was a "no brainer." He also said Ram owned the look.

Also, Ram was spun off to allow Dodge to be more car and performance-focused, not so that Ram could "find its own identity."

Nibbles > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 11:02

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I didn't read the articles. When googling "Dodge crosshair grille" the first page was lousy with articles from 2011.

And obviously RAM doesn't own the look. At least not any more ;)

Blake Noble > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 02/13/2015 at 11:03

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Hmmm... I don't know. See my reply to Nibmoe to read my thoughts on Dodge.

wabbalosthiskey > RazoE 02/13/2015 at 11:25

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I couldn't quite put my finger on it until now.

RazoE > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 11:30

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This one too.

Blake Noble > RazoE 02/13/2015 at 11:31

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D'oh! Forgot about the Viper. Shame on me.

RazoE > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 11:33

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No, don't feel bad. It was an "SRT" when it came out. It's a Do[d]ge now, which is why they down-played the grille a little.

ranwhenparked > Blake Noble 02/13/2015 at 22:47

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I don't *think* so. I believe the plan is for the crosshair to be gradually phased out on Dodges and become a Ram exclusive design feature, and its just been dropped on the Rebel and Laramie Limited to help them stand out more from the rest of the lineup.

That said, it seems like almost everything at Fiat Chrysler has been in a perpetual state of flux pretty much from day one, so we just don't know. Fiat has a very long tradition of constantly modifying and playing around with their own logo, and we've seen them do it with Chrysler's wing badge, so ditching Ram's long established identifying grille design wouldn't be a huge stretch. Not any more of a stretch than taking Dodge's best selling model away and turning it into its own marque was in the first place, anyway.

Tohru > Blake Noble 02/16/2015 at 12:44

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