Ram Trucks Australia (RTA) is about to move into a new facility in Melbourne’s south, as the brand celebrates 10 years in the country.
More than 35,000 Ram pickups have been remanufactured from left- to right-hand drive (RHD) since RTA began operating in December 2015 – lighting the fuse for the burgeoning factory-backed US pickup market in Australia.
Ram partnered with Walkinshaw Automotive in Clayton – the company behind Holden Special Vehicles – to ensure RHD vehicle development and conversion met or exceeded the automaker’s original factory quality standards.
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The success of the Ram 1500,2500, and 3500 in Australia saw Chevrolet follow Ram quickly into the market with the Silverado, before Ford and Toyota joined the fray with the F-150 and Tundra, respectively.
RTA says its new state-of-the-art facility in Dandenong will “bring new efficiencies to the remanufacturing process, and aims to secure the future of Ram Trucks Australia and the employees who work in this skilled and specialised area of the local automotive industry”.
Close to 300 employees work on the Ram production line, with the pickup helping to keep an estimated 3000 people in jobs across the country.
“As the biggest seller of US pickups in Australia – with more than 35,000 vehicles remanufactured over the past 10 years – we believe this move will improve efficiencies and help secure the jobs of 200 factory workers and approximately 50 engineering staff who remanufacture Ram Trucks Australia vehicles to factory quality and safety standards,” said RTA general manager Jeff Barber.
“As you can appreciate, as the first US pickup brand to remanufacture vehicles here in the modern era, we are proud of the part we have played in keeping local vehicle manufacturing and engineering skills alive in Australia in the wake of the closure of the Holden, Ford and Toyota factories in 2016 and 2017.”
Production is scheduled to begin at the new Dandenong facility next month (November 2025).
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