Hemi-powered 2018 Ram 1500 priced from $79,990

“A UTE isn’t a truck.” That’s how Ram introduced its new 1500 light truck range, arriving in July and packing a 291kW Hemi V8-powered punch aimed straight at Australia’s best-selling trade utes.

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The Ram 1500 will be brought in by Melbourne-based American Specialist Vehicles, and converted from left- to right-hand drive just like the Ram Heavy Duty series – the Laramie 2500 and 3500 – already on sale here.

It will touch gloves with the premium end of the trade ute market – the stomping ground of the likes of the Toyota Hilux Rogue, the Ford Ranger Wildtrack and Raptor, the Holden Colorado Z71 and V6-engined versions of the Volkswagen Amarok. It will even hunt in prime Mercedes-Benz X-Class territory.

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It will be priced at the premium end, too. The entry-level, cloth seat but leather dash “quad cab” Express, wearing five seats but with a shorter dual-cab cabin that yields a 1.9-metre bed in the rear that’s aimed at things like the Ford Ranger XLT, will cost from $79,950 driveaway when it arrives in August. Powering all four wheels via a Torqueflite eight-speed automatic transmission, the Express will also tap the 5.7-litre Hemi V8, producing 291kW and 556Nm.

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The entirely leather-clad, Hemi-powered Laramie, priced from $99,950 before on-road costs and including other comforts including heated and cooled front seats, yields more rear-seat legroom and a shorter 1.7-metre tray, and gives buyers the option of a slightly lower diff ratio that lifts the tow rating from an industry-matching 3.5 tonnes to a rival-crushing 4.5 tonnes. Joining the range later in the year will be a Laramie-badged 3.0-litre turbodiesel V6 version that is likely to carry a slight price premium over the V8.

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The Black Line, a Ford Ranger Raptor-chasing version featuring menacing blacked-out trim, a pair of wide nostrils on the bonnet, and a sports exhaust that gives more voice to the 5.7 litre V8, arrives around October.

The 1500 is smaller than the Heavy Duty series already on sale in Australia – at 5816mm it’s 200mm shorter than the HD trucks, sits 50mm lower to the ground at 1924mm, and weighs in a whopping 1157kg lighter at 2418kg.

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The 1500’s Hemi is no slouch, returning impressive fuel economy numbers given the sheer mass and slab-nosed styling that the truck carries. Officially, the engine will return 9.9L/100km on the combined cycle, with the help of cylinder deactivation that selectively shuts down parts of the bent eight to run as a four-pot under light loads. The 1500 also uses active aerodynamics; a row of shutters in behind the grille that push air around the shovel-nosed grille when extra cooling isn’t needed, rather than creating drag by feeding it through the engine bay.

It should be a decent tow rig, too. It will have an electric brake unit fitted as standard, trailer sway control to prevent a high-speed tankslapper, and brakes that will ever-so-slightly drag as soon as the driver’s foot lifts off the accelerator to help with braking response.

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Ram has big expectations for the 1500. It aims to go for 2100 sales next year, building up to 4500 sales in the next three years – giving it a 10 percent share in the premium trade ute market for vehicles priced from more than $57,000.

The Laramie will be on sale in Australia from July, followed by the Express in August. In about October, the V6 diesel should join the range, and a month after that, the more menacing Black Line.