Where is Ram's electric pickup? CEO Tavares assures it's on its way

Stellantis, the owner of the Jeep, Ram, Chrysler and Dodge brands, has been emphasizing its plans for rolling out electric vehicles for much of its first year of existence.

In fact, the company, which just unveiled an electric Chrysler Airflow Concept and pledged a fully battery-electric Chrysler portfolio by 2028, plans $35 billion (30 billion euros) in EV-related investments across its 14 brands through 2025. It even has an electric Dodge muscle car in the works.

But one question keeps coming up for CEO Carlos Tavares.

Where is the electric Ram pickup?

With the coming arrival of electric pickups from rivals Ford and General Motors in the F-150 Lightning and Chevrolet Silverado EV, it's a natural question, one that Tavares took on during a "virtual fireside chat" with Morgan Stanley analysts Wednesday.

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It's also a concern for anyone keeping score in the Truck Wars, where Ram has been among the key combatants. Trucks, after all, are profit engines for the Detroit Three.

Stellantis had already announced it would have an electric Ram 1500 in 2024, but that will put it behind both Ford and GM, with the F-150 Lightning expected this year and the electric Silverado available in 2023.

Tavares' message was essentially that, yes, the electric Ram pickup is coming and being a follower in this case isn't necessarily such a bad thing.

"It's in the making and it’s now being, I would say, adjusted every month to improve our specs and our capabilities, taking into consideration what our competitors are doing," Tavares said, stating that 2021 was a record year for Ram and "that's not old stuff."

Tavares might have been referring to Ram pickup sales, which beat Silverado for 2021 to put it at No. 2 behind Ford's F-Series, or he could have been referring to the Ram brand nabbing top honors in the J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Initial Quality Study. The company noted in its U.S. sales release this week that the Ram brand's total sales, with a 4% increase compared with 2020, were its second best behind 2019.

“It’s a fact that we are coming slightly after (the competition), but it's also a fact that we have the opportunity to adjust the competitiveness and the appeal of our own trucks to what they are doing, which is a competitive game, which is a fantastic situation for the consumer because the real winner of this competition is the consumer," Tavares said.

Tavares offered that what he has seen of the truck so far is "extremely exciting," but then that's coming from a car addict, he said.

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence. Become a subscriber.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Stellantis CEO: Ram 1500 electric truck being adjusted to boost specs