Killer cars March of the monster trucks into Europe due to loophole

The engines rev, the guitars thrum and a gruff narrator explains why the vehicle occupying the driveway is more than just a machine. “A truck is a tool,” he says, “but a Ram - a Ram is life.” So begins an advert for the Ram 1500, a pickup truck that is slightly bigger than the Panzer I tanks of Nazi Germany and almost as heavy. It is growing in popularity in Europe, with the number of Rams arriving from the US up 20% in 2023 compared with 2022, according to registration data from the European Environment Agency.

- Ajit Niranjan

The engines rev, the guitars thrum and a gruff narrator explains why the vehicle occupying the driveway is more than just a machine. “A truck is a tool,” he says, “but a Ram - a Ram is life.”

So begins an advert for the Ram 1500, a pickup truck that is slightly bigger than the Panzer I tanks of Nazi Germany and almost as heavy. It is growing in popularity in Europe, with the number of Rams arriving from the US up 20% in 2023 compared with 2022, according to registration data from the European Environment Agency.

Road safety and environment campaigners in Britain and Europe are aghast as the latest, most extreme cases of North American car bloat - the giant pickup truck - are increasingly crossing the Atlantic.

“Europe should ban the Ram,” said Dudley Curtis from the European Transport Safety Council. “This type of vehicle is excessively heavy, tall and powerful, making it lethal in collisions with normal-sized vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists.”

The giant vehicles fall foul of EU environment rules but can be imported through a back-door channel known as an individual vehicle approval (IVA), which subjects the trucks to less scrutiny. Nearly 5,000 Dodge Rams were brought into Europe last year, and about 60% of IVA approvals in the EU, Norway and Iceland are for the Ram, whose manufacturer, Stellantis, did not respond to requests for comment.