You could call Ram trucks a lot of things, but “adorable” isn’t usually one of them.
Except for this, the Ram 700. It’s a pint-sized “half-tonne” ute for South America and Mexico. It’s really just a Fiat Strada by another name, but that’s okay: there’s plenty of sharing-around between the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) brands under the Ram umbrella, including the Fiat Ducato van sold in the US as the Ram Promaster.
Like all good utes, the Ram 700 comes in both single and double-cab body styles. The base model gets a modest 1.4l engine, while the top-specification steps up to a 1.3l turbo with 73kW; both are front-drive. Tow rating is just 400kg.
So it’s little, but it does have a big attitude – at least judging by the model names, which include Big Horn and Laramie (just like the Ram 1500 and 2500).
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Rebadging an existing product to create a type of teeny tiny (to Americans at least) truck for Ram is just another day at the office for FCA.
In 1979 Chrysler (as the company was then) picked up the Mitsubishi L200 (or Triton as we now know it) and sold it as the Dodge D-50.
In 1981 it became the Ram 50, while the 4WD versions were rather excellently dubbed Power Ram 50.
Trim levels included Custom, Royal, Sport… and Big Horn.
Future of Rolls according to kids
Children are the future. So here’s the future of the Rolls-Royce brand, as imagined by a bunch of kids aged 6-16.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has announced the global winners of its Young Designer Competition, which invited children to create a dream Rolls-Royce of the future.
The four category winners plus three highly commended entrants have had their original artwork transformed into digital renders by the R-R design team, using the same processes they would for a real project.
The competition was intended to provide a “creative outlet for children aged 16 and under, confined by Covid-19 restrictions,” says RR.
The winners represented Technology, Environment, Fantasy and Fun, although the categories were inspired by the entries rather than the other way around.
Popular design themes included unicorns, turtles, space travel, pyramids, bumble bees – and Pablo Picasso. Flying and travelling underwater was also popular. Clever devices and novel technologies were created to save labour, entertain and help the environment.
The “House of Esperanto” pictured here was created by Alisa, age 6, from Russia. Performance is organic to say the least: the vehicle can communicate with every living creature and combines living quarters with mobility.
The groundbreaking technology behind the vehicle was brought to humanity by a mysterious bird that has been living in outer space for a million years. So now we know.