$140,000 Ram sold out before they hit the dealers

IdaD wrote:

RobertRyan wrote:

IdaD wrote:

RobertRyan wrote:
Pickups are booming in Australia roughly 15% of overall vehicle sales including the best selling vehicle.F150's /F250's etc have disappeared. Why has this happened? Prices and RHD had nothing to do wth it. Why do US Pickups struggle outside NA?

My truck is the same as the ones in the article. I spent about $40k US on it, but it costs about $110,000 US in Australia (at current rates). Fuel is also a lot more expensive in Australia, and it doesn't get great fuel economy. It's also big which can be challenging even in urban environments in the US, let alone what it would encounter in Australia. If you can't understand these basic points there's really no purpose in discussing it further.

All I meant with my initial post is that, for those who can afford these imported Rams and are lucky enough to get one, they are going to get ruined when it comes to going back to a little Aussie truck at some point.

Well US Pickups in Australia used to cost as much as the current Ranger/ Hilux. Fuel was 40c a litre. In Australia. Ranger/ Hilux are similar to 1990's to 2003.F150's in size.
F250-F350's did not sell..RAM will not sell other than in niche numbers combination of outrageous prices and basically zero demand.
Those 2003 sized Little Pickups are vastly better Off Road than any RAM. We have had F250-F500's, Chevrolet 2500-3500's a now RAMs .No one ruined by the experience.
Can add their is no displacement tax, roads happily support a 2003 F150 sized vehicles.,US HD Pickups are not new here , so no surprises

No question it's a niche market at those prices. I'm not arguing that. The roads don't support full size American trucks in the sense that they're a tight squeeze. Is what it is in that regard.

Off-road performance? That's a niche market too. Don't know if any Power Wagons will be included in this deal or not. If so they could hold their own within their size restrictions. From the off-road pics I've seen you post in this site a decent driver in a Subaru could get through most of what seems to impress you. No offense but I drive through tougher terrain in my regular Ram with my family on camping trips with no drama. What we literally call the foothills in my local city are higher than the highest point in your continent.

I have been to the rough roads in rhe US not impressed. A Joe on that TC thread thought US Pickups were not cut out for Australian roads

My last camper is being replaced because it couldn't. I'd be very surprised if my old Power Wagon fared much better on that road due to its age.

I figured given a good portion of the inner roads cross Central Australia are dirt and almost always with corrugations, the local built rigs might be a fair bit tougher than our American built ones that get pissy if you take them on slightly rough bitumen.

Our dirt tracks generally are alot less corrugated due to the difference in geological make up of the soil. When you come across corrugations on a back road in the states, its generally left behind impressions from the tracks of a bulldozer that worked on the road vs natural phenomenon from rainy periods.