SPY PICS: Dodge Ram for 2009

We wouldn't be at all surprised if the next Dodge Ram doesn't look at least a little like the recently introduced Nitro (more here) around the front end.

Concealed behind a clump of artificial spinifex -- perhaps not the best disguise in an American desert landscape -- our intrepid spy photographers at Carparazzi captured this 2009 model Dodge Ram during testing.

The new car is pretty angular under all that camouflage, but the nose is very obviously far removed from the styling of the current model's.

Why is the Ram important? Chances are it will be coming to Australia before long, picking up some market share left by Ford's global decision to drop production of the F Series in RHD form.

The way has also been cleared for Dodge to import the Ram as an ambulance, now that the company isn't stymied by the Daimler half of 'DaimlerChrysler' flogging Mercedes Sprinters around the country -- for this very same purpose.

If the Ram does make it to Australia, this is the model we'll likely see first.

It's rumoured that the new model range will be available with a variable valve timing version of the 5.7-litre HEMI engine already sold locally in the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Chrysler 300C.

Other possibilities include a Cummins-sourced diesel V8, a revised 4.7-litre V8 that will run on 85 per cent ethanol and a new petrol V6 with cylinder deactivation.

-- with Carparazzi