With the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX joining the pickup scene to directly take on Ford’s F-150 Raptor for the top spot for best performance offroader. The TRX nameplate (often called the “T-Rex”) has had a lot of people touting that new RAM is the “apex predator” of the truck world. However, it almost didn’t happen that way according to a recent article from Automobile Magazine.
According to the popular automotive publication in an interview with TRX Exterior Design, Mike Gillam, the TRX wasn’t their first choice for a nameplate. Despite being associated with the “king of the dinosaurs” the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the TRX moniker wasn’t given for its prehistoric reference. Instead, it was due to legal reasons.
“Because of the short timeline, we actually had a sheet of craft paper up in the studio, and we had probably 200-plus different naming ideas. A lot of them were really cool, out there and exciting. And at the end of the day, legal couldn’t vet any of those names fast enough for the reveal. So, it was really just a timing thing,” Gillam said.
You might recall that the TRX and TRX4 names were used on both the Ram 1500 and Dodge Dakota, for its off-road package that was aimed at the Chevrolet’s Z-71 package. The name later appeared on the Ram 1500 Rebel TRX Concept, where it built a lot of momentum leading up to the production truck.
“They looked and they said, ‘What do we already have the rights to?’ And we actually had TRX, it ran for I think just one year, it was an off-road package we offered on Ram. And it was sort of a little bit obscure. Every now and again, I’ll see one driving around. But it was kind of a cool name. They thought, ‘yeah, you know what, it’s simple, it’s memorable. We own it already,’ which was the big thing. So, ‘let’s just go with that.’ It was, again, one of these things where we didn’t overthink it too much.”
The 2021 Ram 1500 TRX has a starting U.S. Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $69,995, not including the $1,695 for destination). The truck will arrive in the fourth quarter of 2020. For those who are looking to obtain a 2021 Ram 1500 TRX, ordering for the 702 horsepower pickup is open at Ram Truck dealers across the United States.
For more information, you can contact your local Ram Truck dealer. The trucks should arrive in dealer showrooms in the late fourth quarter of 2020. You can also build your dream TRX, on the RamTrucks.com Build & Price configurator.
Source: Automobile Magazine
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