Express Yourself: 2026 Ram 1500 Express

Seeking to recapture a bit of market share, Ram has introduced another budget-minded variant of its half-ton pickup truck.

Using a trim level called the Express, it shows up for work with many of the styling features Ram customers seem to like on their pickup trucks but foregoes spendy items like a jumbo infotainment which generally serve to jack the sticker to unfathomable heights. Look for gear like 20-inch wheels, LED headlamps with black bezels, plus monochromatic details slathered on the grille and bumpers. Ram sees fit to make good colors such as Forged Blue and Hydro Blue available on the Express, a nice departure from dour shades of gray.

The model will come standard with the venerable 3.6L Pentastar V6 engine, a proven mill good for 305 horsepower. The standard-output Hurricane inline-six is a $1,695 option and cranks the wick to 420 ponies. Customers can choose a Quad Cab or Crew Cab body configuration with either two- or four-wheel drive grip. The options sheet will also include a $995 Black Express package, layering on a Sport hood with flared nostrils, fog lamps, dark exterior badges, and black wheels. Look for bucket seats and a console in the cab.

After jettisoning the Ram 1500 Classic, dealers have been clamoring for a replacement closer to that truck’s price point. Despite it having been on sale virtually unchanged since the first Obama administration, the Classic was a popular way to claim market share and get taillights over the curb. Through the first quarter of 2025, sales of the Ram LD are down 11 percent to 47,067 units; the entirety of the Ram pickup truck line was down 16 percent to 373,120 units during the 2024 calendar year. Just five years ago, that same line recorded 633,694 sales.