I remember when those came out. My mother, who owned a previous generation Dodge Ram hated the look. A decade or so later, she bought a Dodge Dakota with similar styling cues. She didn't hate it enough to turn down the right combination of price and features.
This is probably a good approach to most markets that are relatively commoditized (early '90s GM, Ford and Dodge full-size pickup trucks were roughly interchangeable): find some way to make yours stand out that a fraction of users are really passionate about, then double down on it.
The 2nd gen Ram design aged terribly compare to Ford or GM's mid/late 90s departure from brick-like trucks. You just don't notice how terribly they aged because they fell apart and rusted out faster
This is probably a good approach to most markets that are relatively commoditized (early '90s GM, Ford and Dodge full-size pickup trucks were roughly interchangeable): find some way to make yours stand out that a fraction of users are really passionate about, then double down on it.