Ram 1500 fends off new rivals to retain Australian sales crown

The Ram 1500 has been confirmed as Australia’s top-selling US pickup truck for a record seventh year in a row, despite new competition entering the fray.

New-vehicle VFACTS sales data published by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) today has revealed that Ram Trucks Australia delivered 3239 examples of its Ram 1500 pickup in 2024, outselling key rivals like the Chevrolet Silverado (2389) and Ford Australia’s newer Ford F-150 (2428).

Ram Trucks Australia general manager Jeff Barber said his company remains committed to selling full-size pickups in this market amid increasing competition, including from the newly released Toyota Tundra – the third US dual-cab to be developed and ‘remanufactured’ for Australia by the Walkinshaw Automotive Group after the Ram and Silverado.

“We would like to thank our customers who drove us to Number One, and we also must thank the 200-plus production line workers and 50-plus engineers in Melbourne who remanufacture our vehicles from left-hand-drive to right-hand-drive to factory standards,” he said.

“We know the US pickup market in Australia is getting more competitive, but we remain absolutely committed to this segment.”

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The Ram 1500’s 3200-plus sales figure in 2024 excludes those sold by independent converters and comes despite a 45.3 per cent year-on-year sales decrease from 2023, when the previous-generation DS series entered runout, as well as strong sales in the closing months of last year for both new and established rivals.

Though the Ram’s total figure for the year was ahead of the Ford and Chevrolet, the F-150 outsold the 1500 in December – 344 sales versus 277.

The Silverado also had a solid end to 2024 with 228 sales in December, while the Tundra managed 136 sales in its first full month on sale.

Nevertheless, Ram Trucks Australia has sold more than 30,000 vehicles in Australia and New Zealand since 2016, more than double the sales of rival brands over the same period. For context, the Silverado arrived in 2020, while deliveries for the current F-150 began in 2023.

A total of 10,611 full-size pickups were sold Down Under in 2024, with the numbers made up by primarily the Silverado HD (1473) and Ram 2500 (565).

The Ram 1500 is converted by Walkinshaw in Clayton, Melbourne, where engineers have been transforming US-built pickups from left- to right-hand drive for sale in showrooms in Australia and New Zealand since 2018.

Though the larger, heavier-duty 2500 and 3500 pickups arrived first, the volume-selling 1500 has led the way since it first debuted in local showrooms.

More than 28,000 examples of the Hemi V8-powered 1500 have since been converted by Walkinshaw, with a handful of 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel models also previously converted, alongside others by unofficial converters.

The last Ram 1500 powered by a Hemi V8 rolled off the Clayton production line in early December 2024, before the first facelifted DT-series pickups – powered by a twin-turbo inline six-cylinder petrol engine – become available in Australia by mid-2025.

While they’re yet to be revealed, facelifted Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups will continue with a 6.7-litre Cummins straight-six turbo-diesel.

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