Yes, we’ve seen this concept before, on the Ram 1500 Revolution prototype, but this paperwork suggests it’s getting serious
- Stellantis’ Ram brand just patented a pair of third-row jump seats for its pickup trucks
- Don’t call it an SUV—the perches could be removed and used for tailgating
- Sound familiar? We’ve seen this before, on a concept truck teased just last year
There’s no arguing that pickups have swollen to gargantuan proportions over the last number of years. Locked in a perpetual mine-is-bigger-than-yours game, don’t expect the largess from Detroit’s truck-makers to abate any time soon. The latest volley in this back-and-forth? Three rows of seating. Yes, in a pickup.
It’s shaping up to be an eminently capable machine, but one which differs from its gasoline-powered brother in the way an F-150 Lightning differs from an F-150 EcoBoost: unique front and rear fascias and a huge frunk but, overall, nothing that moves the needle in wild fashion.
Which is why this patent for a third row of seats, published last week and filed nearly 12 months after the original electric Ram 1500 three-row truck appeared on the show circuit, is so notable.
In reality, busting a few norms in an outrageous fashion would hardly be new territory for Ram, a company which literally has something called a Mega Cab in its portfolio of brutish pickup trucks — not to mention other outsized aggressions like Power Wagon and the upcoming Ramcharger. About the only whiff off this particular bat is the name ‘eTorque’ for its mild-hybrid system, a decidedly non-aggro name which should really have been called something like RAID (Ram Anti-Ignition Device).
At any rate, this author has long been of the opinion that a three-row Wrangler would sell like proverbial hotcakes, and a three-row Ram pickup truck would be no different. Pay no mind to whinging outlets railing against how such a machine is an affront to all for which a “real” pickup truck stands or that the purchase of one is going to come with a free hakapik with which to club baby seals.
Speaking to the former, most crew-cab pickups are strictly used for hauling sailboat fuel (read: air) anyways; and as for the latter, Canadians should be free to buy whatever type of vehicle they darn well please, even if it is a three-row 4×4 truck used for popping to Circle K.
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