Would You Drive A Trump Truck? Here’s How It Could Happen

The Nikola Badger
Credit: Nikola Motors

(The Gas Station is where American Cars And Racing Executive Editor Gary Gastelu vents his opinions. Feel free to let us know if you think they stink.)

Trump is getting into the telecom business. The Trump Organization this week launched Trump Mobility, which will provide cellular service and sell a gold $499 smartphone starting later this year.

A major selling point of the $47.45 monthly service is that its call center is based in the U.S., and the company says that the phone will be made in USA, but full details have not yet been released.

That is to say another company will be offering the products under the Trump Mobile name through a licensing agreement with the Trump Organization. It’s a similar arrangement to many Trump-related endeavors, which include recent forays into guitars and sneakers. So, what if the company got involved with a different type of mobility?

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According to an unscientific survey conducted by U.S. News in 2024, Republicans are five times more likely to drive pickups than Democrats, which gels with the popularity of pickups in rural red states. It’s hardly rare to see a Ford, Chevy or Ram with Trump decals on it anywhere in the country, so why not just make that the brand?

The Detroit Three don’t typically build white label products for startup brands, but General Motors almost did exactly that in 2020 when it entered a strategic partnership with Nikola Motors to engineer and manufacture the Nikola-designed Badger pickup using its electric and hydrogen fuel cell powertrains.

The deal started to crumble just two days later after short-selling firm Hindenburg Research issued a report accusing Nikola of deceiving investors, which was followed by the 2023 conviction of Nikola founder Trevor Milton on counts of securities and wire fraud.

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But this February, Sparks Motors owner Dave Sparks, a friend of Milton’s and star of the ‘Diesel Brothers” TV show, revealed that he had acquired the rights to the Badger design with plans to put it into production through a new company called Ember. That hasn’t happened yet, but in March, President Trump pardoned Milton, adding another interesting twist to the truck’s tale.

General Motors told American Cars And Racing in February that it had “nothing to share” regarding the Badger’s return and there have been no indications that it is interested in getting involved in the revived Badger project, but Sparks has started working with another truck maker since then.

He appeared in a Ram commercial announcing the return of the Hemi V8 engine option for the Ram 1500 pickup. It’s not a diesel, but Sparks recently made a partner post on Instagram with photos of his new Cummins diesel-powered Ram HD pickup.

Neither party has announced any plans to take the partnership farther, but it would take the same effort to put the Badger body on a Ram chassis as it would on one from GM. Ram even has electric and hydrogen fuel cell powertrains in the works, if Sparks was still thinking of going in that direction. The Badger really was mostly about the style, however, so it could be powered by anything.

Sparks was a Trump supporter even before Milton’s pardon. Considering Ember isn’t exactly a household name, it’s not hard to imagine throwing some gold paint and the Trump brand on the Badger to give it a boost.

Then again, Tesla CEO Elon Musk may have learned the hard way how politics can affect vehicle sales. The backlash against his campaigning for Trump and work with the Department of Government Efficiency has coincided with a big drop in Cybertruck deliveries this year. Still, Zach Nelson of the JerryRigEverything YouTube channel even proved the stainless steel truck could be gold-plated, just like a Trump truck should be.

Trump is also friendly with Jeff Bezos, who is the executive chairman of Amazon, which holds stake in pickup truck maker Rivian. He has also separately invested in new American startup automaker Slate, which is looking to bring a $27,500 pickup to market next year that is designed for the working class Americans Trump often celebrates. However, as with the Rivian R1T and Cybertruck, it is all-electric. The administration’s policies haven’t been entirely favorable to the segment, although they are very much aimed at promoting American-made vehicles.

A Trump Truck may not be among them anytime soon, but it’s easy enough to find bumper stickers for yours if you want a DIY version.