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Ram's New Plug-in-Hybrid Truck Stars with Glen Powell in Super Bowl Ad

Ram's New Plug-in-Hybrid Truck Stars with Glen Powell in Super Bowl Ad

Yahoo09-02-2025

Super Bowl ad features Goldilocks, the three bears, a dragon, and three of the brand's newest pickup trucks.
In the commercial, Glen Powell lives out his idealized version of the classic children's story, albeit with a lot less porridge and a lot more truck stuff.
The ad stars members of Ram's lineup, including the new , the , and the .
Ultimately, we're watching the Super Bowl for the on-field action, but the commercials provide another intriguing element. The TV spots have the potential to be remembered for years afterward—like Apple's 1984 ad. While this year the number of automakers paying for a slice of that marketing pie is down to just Jeep and Ram, the latter has an entertaining take on a classic children's story.
Ram's Super Bowl LIX ad features actor Glen Powell living out his Goldilocks fantasy with a trio of the brand's newest pickup trucks. In the commercial, Powell dons a blonde wig and ditches the porridge to take a series of joy rides while Van Halen's "Panama" plays in the background. In his version of the fairytale, Powell fights a dragon—which he then tows behind the heavy-duty Ram 2500 Rebel. He then leaves civilization behind in the new-for-2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger (a plug-in-hybrid pickup), where he carves a truly glorious statue of himself out of wood. Finally, he jumps a volcano in the RHO, which is basically a version of the now-defunct TRX, except it features a 550-hp twin-turbo 3.0-liter straight-six instead of a 702-hp supercharged 6.2-liter V-8.
The Super Bowl commercial showcases the newest trucks in Ram's lineup. The Ramcharger will surely draw the most attention, as it'll be the first plug-in-hybrid pickup you can buy when it goes on sale in the first half of this year. Due to high customer interest—and waning demand for EVs—the Ramcharger's production timeline was actually moved ahead of the all-electric Ram 1500 REV, which is now slated to go on sale in 2026. Some people may remember that Ram used the Ramcharger moniker on an SUV in the 1980s.
The 2025 Ram 2500 Rebel also appears in the commercial, and it was recently redesigned to keep its styling and tech in line with the 10Best-winning Ram 1500. The RHO, which is also a new model this year, is Powell's other co-star. Although Ram's commercial likely won't be remembered like the aforementioned Apple ad, it's fun nonetheless.
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DETROIT — "Mediocrity is not worth the trip." That was part of incoming Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa's first public message after being named to lead the global automaker. It was a mantra decades in the making, as he spent 25 years climbing through the company's ranks, starting from a role as a night shift paint shop supervisor in Spain. The quote also referenced late Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, a mentor of Filosa's who's revered in the company. Marchionne unexpectedly died in 2018, years before the automaker merged to form Stellantis, the parent for brands such as Jeep, Ram, Fiat and Chrysler. Several former and current Stellantis executives and employees who have worked with Filosa highlighted his connection to Marchionne when speaking with CNBC. They also described him as an engaging, collective leader who knows the business well, from the factory floors to C-suite offices, but who faces a slew of challenges and tests ahead. 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"We need to manage the transition, right? It's not a secret that electric vehicles will be [a] strong part of the future, right? Not only for Stellantis, but for the automotive industry itself," Filosa, then-Stellantis' head of the Americas, told reporters in January. "The pace and the speed, probably something that needs to be slightly reassessed." Filosa, at that time, said it will be on the new CEO to decide the pace. He described the company's issues as "a multitask challenge" for whoever the board would appoint, which ultimately was him. Filosa, a relatively young CEO at 51 years old, has hit the ground running since Tavares promoted him from Jeep's CEO to chief operating officer of Stellantis' Americas operations, where he prioritized mending strained bonds. Employees were distraught over cuts and layoffs, while the company's franchised retailers were livid about Stellantis' sales and market share losses under Tavares. 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Stellantis' revenue has grown since the company was formed but plummeted 17.2% year-over-year in 2024 to 156.9 billion euros ($180.6 billion), while other automakers such as General Motors and Ford Motor saw notable increases in their top lines. "Filosa steps into the CEO role amid significant challenges for the company," RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan wrote in a May 28 investor note. "His immediate priorities include revitalizing the company's performance in the US market, streamlining Stellantis' extensive 14-brand portfolio, and mending strained relationships with dealers, unions, and governments." Filosa's appointment to CEO was viewed as a safe, "logical choice" for the automaker as it attempts to address its self-inflicted issues, as well as regulatory uncertainty such as tariffs and global economic concerns, according to industry insiders and observers. "I think it's a logical, credible choice," Tavares told Bloomberg in late May in his first interview with international media since leaving the company. "Hopefully, he will be properly supported by the board. So let's see." Since being announced as CEO on May 28, Filosa has visited many of the automaker's plants in the U.S., Canada and Europe. He was reportedly chosen following a six-month search that included other internal and external candidates. His public comments regarding his new position have painted him as a humbled, grateful executive and father who takes pride in connecting with people. "I am truly honored to be appointed CEO of this great company, Stellantis. It has been my home for 25 years. This place is in my blood," he said a May 28 LinkedIn post, referencing Marchionne. A handful of current and former Stellantis executives described Filosa as an "engaging leader" and "listener" who's particularly at ease inside plants and speaking with employees — much like Marchionne. "I've worked side-by-side with him. … We grew up under Sergio," Stellantis global head of design Ralph Gilles told CNBC. "He's a people person. He's a visionary, he's energized, he's young … and he's curious. He's a great listener. I love his problem-solving abilities, and for me, he loves design." Marchionne would refer to his executives as "kids," many of whom, like Gilles and Filosa, he appointed to their first high-profile leadership positions. Others still with Stellantis include Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis and Chief Marketing Officer Olivier Francois. "Antonio's awesome," Kuniskis, who unretired after a seven-month hiatus last year, told CNBC"He's one of the driving forces for me wanting to come back." Stellantis CFO Douglas Ostermann earlier this month touted Filosa's background in manufacturing and building the company's Latin American business, which has remained a high profitability region for the company. "He's a very kind of open leader that I think really works well with across the organization, across people, across brands, kind of a relationship builder," Ostermann said during a Bernstein event. Upon Filosa's appointment, Bernstein analysts in an investor note described him as a "safe pair of hands" but a relatively uninspiring choice for investors compared with an outside hire such as ex-Apple CFO Luca Maestri, whom the company was reportedly considering. "I think investors were quite excited about the prospect of bringing in somebody from the outside," Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska told CNBC. "Not that there wasn't anybody inside, but after kind of such a big mix up, investors thought the idea of bringing something from the outside was a good one." Filosa hasn't had much experience in such a high-profile role, unlike Marchionne and Tavares, who were battle-tested automotive veterans. He came up through the company's Latin American operations and has only served a short time in North America — its most crucial market. While Italian, he also has limited work time in Europe, the automaker's second most important region. Two sources who agreed to speak on the condition on anonymity to be able to speak freely also said he's a nose to the grindstone leader who can be demanding at times, similar to his predecessors and other CEOs. Filosa also will need to restore investor confidence, which both Marchionne and Tavares were at ease doing. Three sources, including two company insiders, said he doesn't yet have the CEO prowess like his predecessors, something that may come with experience. UBS analyst Patrick Hummel noted in a financial note last month that Filosa's interaction with the financial community also has been "limited" to a capital markets day in June 2024. Investors didn't react strongly to the CEO choice, based on the company's stock price. When Filosa was announced as CEO on May 28, U.S.-listed shares of the stock declined 3.2%. Since then, shares are off roughly 10% amid a litany of outside factors. The daily stock decline is actually similar to when Marchionne made his "mediocrity" comments during the company's first investor day after combining Chrysler and Fiat to make "Fiat Chrysler Automobiles," or FCA, on May 6, 2014. Shares fell 3.9% that day. Marchionne, a philosophy major who was known for his astute remarks, was discussing the challenges ahead for the automaker and changing automotive industry, including not chasing unprofitable businesses — which Filosa and Stellantis must continue to address. "I told you this morning that our FCA culture responds better when it is confronted with purpose and with challenge," Marchionne said. "And our plan has purpose because when all is said and all is done, mediocrity is not worth the trip."

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