Up next in 10
Mike Cairns / 2015 Ram Rebel interview
Nov 10, 2024
Talking with Mike Cairns, the esteeemed Ram Chief Engineer, about the 2015 Ram Rebel and engineering the former Dodge pickup trucks
View Video Transcript
0:06
hi I'm Mike Terren head of ram truck
0:07
engineering we're here today talking
0:09
about the Ram 1500 Rebel this is a new
0:12
model we're just launching as you can
0:14
see awesome off-road looking truck but
0:17
it's also got chops to deliver that we
0:19
use our four corner air suspension and
0:21
we set the ride height 1 in higher than
0:23
normal to give us a best-in-class ground
0:26
clearance of over 10 in and you can also
0:28
see we are able to fit beautiful 33in
0:31
Toyo Open Country allterrain ta tires
0:35
awesome Tire love these tires they not
0:37
only deliver great mud snow traction but
0:39
they also have really good onroad ride
0:42
and handling very important of course to
0:44
our Customer because we have a great
0:45
ride in this truck we didn't want to
0:47
give it up just because you get an
0:48
off-road truck um the interior also is
0:51
just awesome you have to get some shots
0:53
of that really cool looking really
0:55
accenting and letting the customer know
0:57
this is something
1:03
um Grill is it just aesthetic or it have
1:06
some ex cooling function to um the grill
1:09
that's one of the things when you do new
1:10
grills um obviously The Styling guys we
1:13
work very closely with our product
1:15
design office guys um we have to make
1:18
sure it still delivers good aerodynamics
1:20
as well as good cooling air flow so
1:22
there's a lot of work goes into that we
1:24
actually take it in the wind tunnel to
1:25
develop the shape and the size to make
1:27
sure we still can deliver the awesome
1:30
toe capability of a Ram hemi as well as
1:33
the good aerodynamics and fuel economy
1:35
that we deliver in all our
1:38
power concern from the hardore this is
1:42
the new for the whole
1:44
line package for now or uh it's a great
1:48
question is this the new grill of all
1:50
Ram no this is a unique model we really
1:52
wanted to signify that this is something
1:54
special and different so the traditional
1:57
Ram Crosshair grills are still out there
1:58
in all our other models
2:00
but we really wanted this to look
2:02
different and really have this very
2:03
aggressive that matte black look gives
2:05
it a tough aggressive
2:08
look I'm guessing the price isn't
2:10
available yet um we'll have price you
2:13
have a a higher
2:19
range yes yeah this this model though we
2:22
haven't announced pricing will be
2:24
somewhere kind of above a big horn
2:26
package uh somewhere between Big Horn
2:28
sport model that thing so a little bit
2:31
of a premium price but not not bad I
2:33
think you'll all be very happy with the
2:34
price soon as we announc everything we
2:37
see
2:38
standards on this yes there there are
2:41
options I should say sorry this does
2:43
feature ram box which is an option there
2:46
are options within the package it is a
2:48
new model that will have a bunch of
2:51
other uh free-standing
2:53
options the air suspension is set
2:56
higher standard setting dve higher than
2:59
say a regular for half the mar exactly
3:01
so sorry I look at you camera um exactly
3:05
the uh by using the four corner air
3:07
suspension we set the normal ride height
3:10
1 in higher than the normal 4x4 so it'll
3:13
run around at all speeds at that higher
3:15
ride height uh we do offer though the
3:18
same feature you can turn on the Arrow
3:19
mode where if you're over about 60 M
3:22
hour it'll drop down to improve
3:24
aerodynamics and highway speeds but you
3:26
can turn that off also if you want uh
3:28
and then there's also an off an
3:30
additional off-road mode which will
3:32
raise the truck another inch over what
3:34
you see here and then the park entry
3:37
exit position which will lower the truck
3:40
now that it's an inch higher it actually
3:41
lower about 3 in for Ingress erass and
3:45
of course using the bed getting in and
3:46
out of the bed loading gear which is
3:49
really great I use it all the
3:51
time the speed limit on the offro
3:55
mode um yeah in the high off-road mode
3:58
about 25 miles an hour uh we will drop
4:01
down then to the normal ride height uh
4:03
in a regular 4x4 that that this ride
4:06
height would normally only be allowed up
4:09
to about 45 mph but we've retuned the
4:12
suspension with the fill Steen shocks
4:14
changed the geometry a little bit so it
4:16
still handles great even at higher speed
4:17
so this ride height will stay L up to
4:20
its top
4:22
speed bu up to any other
4:25
R suspension bu up to uh
4:30
um it'd be very expensive because the
4:33
air suspension is all unique um if you
4:36
had an air suspension we're not making
4:38
available the different controller to
4:40
change a regular air suspension set at
4:42
this ride height because there is
4:44
geometry changes and we've done all the
4:46
dynamic tuning with these tires these
4:48
shocks and that
4:50
ride throwing levels to the tow ratings
4:55
all stay the same as a regular 36 4x4
4:58
the 57 4x2
5:01
um come tennar or heny was there there
5:04
no Eco diesel was there any
5:05
consideration Eco diesel sure we we
5:08
consider putting the EC diesel in we
5:09
love that engine we're very proud of it
5:11
but um we have such Demand right now
5:13
we're looking at increased capacity so
5:16
we really felt on this model we just at
5:18
this time stick with the gas engine
5:24
off interior standard all running yes
5:27
the interior that's standard interior
5:29
awesome looking beautiful and that's in
5:31
the rebel package every exterior yeah uh
5:34
there are five exterior colors the red
5:38
yes yeah yeah yeah and that's why we
5:41
limited to five colors CU we wanted to
5:43
make sure that interior matches with all
5:46
the exterior colors
#Autos & Vehicles
#Custom & Performance Vehicles
#Motor Vehicles (By Brand)
#Off-Road Vehicles
#Ram Trucks