Dodge Market News

[HeavyGunner]

1 hour ago, RoadwayR said:

Nice, but those guys can't go on selling Hemi powered muscle cars and Jeeps forever.

Why not?  All the other two of the big three have high horsepower options throughout their line up why can’t mopar?  Mopar was the first into the 1/2 ton and small suv diesel out of the big 3, they have a few different 4 and 6 cylinder options as well as a few v8 options. Sounds like business as usual in the car world to me. 

[kscarbel2]

I’ll say one thing, the new 1500 is by far the leader across the board.

[HeavyGunner]

Mopar has come a long ways in the 2-3 decades. They went from tinny bodies that fell apart, power windows that often times didn’t work to get multiple JD Power and Associates truck of the year awards. 

[kscarbel2]

Chevy vs. Ford vs. Ram

K.C. Colwell, Car & Driver  /  January 17, 2020

We know what you're thinking: Didn't you just pick the Ram 1500 as a 10Best winner? Why are you comparing these trucks again so soon? Well, upsets happen all the time, and when you narrow the focus to a single model rather than the entire range, it's possible that the Ford F-150 or Chevy Silverado 1500 beats the Ram. So we lined up the Big Three's new half-ton diesels and let them slug it out.

It was a fair fight. We gathered four-door crew-cab versions with four-wheel drive and two-speed transfer cases, five-seat leather interiors, and five-figure asking prices that start with "6." In other words: These aren't strictly work trucks. These pickups fulfill a daily mission not unlike a large SUV, albeit with heftier towing capacities (see chart below).

A diesel in a Ram 1500 is nothing new. The EcoDiesel brand has already been through an emissions scandal involving its VM Motori–supplied 3.0-liter V-6. Unavailable last year, the turbo-diesel is back with a bit more power. It now makes 260 ponies and (more important to the coal-rolling community) 480 pound-feet of torque, gains of 20 horses and 60 pound-feet over the previous gen. The EcoDiesel, which comes with a mandatory 3.92:1 final drive, is a $5090 upgrade over the base gas V-6.

Ford was second to jump on the light-duty-diesel bandwagon when it began offering its own turbo 3.0-liter V-6 for the 2018 model year. The engine comes from Europe, a cousin of the turbo-diesel that Jaguar Land Rover installs in Range Rovers, among others. It is the weakling in this test, with 250 horsepower and 440 pound-feet. Ford complicates things by offering the diesel in different trims for different amounts. In our test truck, it's a $4750 option.

Newest on the scene is Chevrolet's—wait for it—3.0-liter six. Guess what? It was also developed in Europe, but unlike the others, it is wholly new and arranges the cylinders in a straight line. Just as Ford has repurposed the "Power Stroke" branding of its heavy-duty engine for its light-duty six, Chevy christens this turbo-diesel "Duramax" in the hope that you'll make a mental connection to the 910-lb-ft monster that goes into the brand's HD trucks. The Duramax makes the most power of the bunch, with 277 horses on tap, and the second-most twist, with 460 pound-feet. Also like Ford's setup, the cost for the diesel option depends on trim. In a Silverado LTZ, it's a $2495 charge.

The Ford and Chevy share a transmission, but you would never know it by driving them. It isn't so much that the Ford's version is conspicuous, it's that the Silverado's works as seamlessly as the inline-six that turns it. Chevy's powertrain shines all the time but never so brightly as when it's hooked to a 6650-pound trailer. If all we ever did with one of these trucks was tow, the Duramax might be enough to win us over. It is that nice.

The Silverado also tops a lot of objective stats, including payload, as-tested price, and acceleration. It is the lightest in the test, too, which pokes a rusty hole in Ford's aluminum-body strategy. Even the fully kitted Ram 1500 is lighter than the F-series pickup.

With big fuel tanks and efficient diesel engines, these trucks offer long-haul range and, in the Ram's case, near-luxury-car comfort.

But while this truck, equipped with the Duramax and the Z71 off-road package, rides better than other current-gen Silverados we've tested, it is no match for the Ram's supple ride and adept handling. The scary thing for the competition is that the Ram isn't just good for a truck; it's just plain good. The F-150, on the other hand, never settles down. It bucks, wiggles, shimmies, and hops endlessly after an otherwise minor bump in the road. We thought attaching a trailer might calm the ride, but it didn't.

Objectively, Ram's EcoDiesel isn't the best at doing truck things. As the charts reveal, the Ram's payload is lower than the Chevy's, and its tow rating is topped by the Ford's. But the differences are negligible. About the only gripe anyone had with the Ram was its labored feeling when trying to keep a 70-mph pace with a trailer in tow; 65 was just fine.

The real knockout punch came at the fuel pump. Returning 30 mpg, the Ram bests its competitors by a wide margin. We should note that there is a slim but very real possibility that the Ram didn't experience a single particulate-filter-regen event during the miles we logged. These periodic self-cleanings—think colon blow for your exhaust—consume extra fuel. Even if we doubled the worst-case scenario, adding half a gallon of diesel to our tally, the Ram would still have averaged a best-in-test 27 mpg. Towing economy was essentially a wash, with only a 1-mpg spread among the pickups.

In the end, this wasn't anything more than a sparring match for the 10Best-winning Ram 1500. The upset will have to wait. We're sure that Ford and Chevy will mount another title challenge soon enough.

1st Place: Ram 1500 EcoDiesel

Highs: Remarkable ride and handling, as polished as a luxury car, sips fuel.
Lows: A little labored with a moderate trailer, but only a little.

2nd Place: Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Duramax

Highs: Velvety engine, silky trans, perfect brake feel.
Lows: Bland exterior, uninspired interior, can't match the comfort of the segment's best.

3rd Place: Ford F-150 Power Stroke

Highs: Tow-capacity champ, aluminum body won't rust.
Lows: Heavy despite prevalent aluminum, atrocious ride, chintzy interior.

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[kscarbel2]

Bloomberg  /  March 24, 2020

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is using an auto plant in China to make a million face masks a month to donate to first responders and health-care providers in the U.S., CEO Mike Manley said in an email to employees.

Conversion of the plant began Monday and Fiat expects to start production in the coming weeks. A spokeswoman said that making the masks at a China plant that is up and running is the fastest way to get much-needed supplies to health workers in the U.S.

Manley also wrote that Fiat engineers and manufacturing teams and Ferrari employees in Italy are working with Siare Engineering, an Italian respirator company, to more than double their productivity.

[kscarbel2]

FCA files to trademark Dakota

Greg Layson, Automotive News  /  May 7, 2020

FCA US appears to be moving forward with plans to introduce a new mid-size pickup truck to complement the Jeep Gladiator. And there is an early, familiar contender for the name of the truck.

The company on April 29 filed a trademark application for the name "Dakota," related to "parts for vehicles, namely, automotive exterior decorative trim," according to a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office posting.

Ram dropped the mid-size Dakota pickup in 2011 after a 25-year run. For years, the Dakota was a mainstay of the Dodge lineup.

General Motors and Ford have resurrected mid-size trucks in recent years, in part to offer consumers a lower-priced alternative to full-size pickups, which are among the industry's most profitable light vehicles.

U.S. sales of mid-size pickups rose 22 percent to nearly 640,000 in 2019. First-quarter demand slipped 0.9 percent.

FCA CEO Mike Manley said a year ago that Ram product planners and engineers are "focused on solving a metric ton midsize truck solution for us because it's a big part of the portfolio and growth we want to achieve." 

At that time, it sounded as if the decision was coming down to how best to execute a platform for a mid-size Ram pickup.

"Being able to find a cost-effective platform in a region where we can build it with low cost and it still being applicable in the market is what they're struggling with at the moment," Manley said. "I want that problem solved, frankly, because it's a clear hole in our portfolio. It will not be filled by Gladiator because Gladiator is a very, very different mission. Trust me, they're focused on it. We need to get it fixed soon."

Suppliers told Automotive News last year that the mid-size Ram pickup would be built in Toledo, Ohio, at the same plant where the all-new Gladiator is produced. A release timeline is still uncertain. 

Automotive News previously forecasted the vehicle would be “new in 2022” while Motor Trend, in a story this week, said a new Dakota could arrive as early as the 2021 model year. 

FCA, citing the coronavirus outbreak, has been forced to delay the introduction of several key models, such as a redesigned Jeep Grand Cherokee and an all-new Jeep Grand Wagoneer.

In Canada, the Dakota trademark application prompted Unifor is begin lobbying FCA to build the truck in Windsor, Ontario, where the company builds mini-vans.

In an early-morning Facebook post Thursday, Unifor Local 444, which represents about 5,000 workers at FCA’s mini-van plant, called on the automaker to build a mid-size pickup at the factory.

“To be clear, Ram has *not officially announced its intention to launch a new Dakota just yet. However, while FCA *may have applied for a Dakota trademark to protect itself from others using the name, it does signal that the company may actually use the name in the coming years,” Unifor Local 444 posted on its Facebook page Thursday at about 1 a.m. ET. “If you want it built right, build it Windsor! It’s what we do!!”

The Unifor post comes just months before the union and automaker are scheduled to engage in contract talks, beginning in the fall.

FCA intends to cut one of three shifts at the Windsor plant, which builds the Dodge Grand Caravan, Chrysler Pacifica and Chrysler Voyager, another badge resurrected by Chrysler.

Unifor has made it clear that new product is priority No. 1 during the next round of bargaining.

[kscarbel2]

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[james j neiweem]

That black interior with the red trim is awesome.

[kscarbel2]

Ram battles Ford Raptor with 702-hp TRX pickup

Vince Bond Jr.. Automotive News  /  August 24, 2020

Ram's off-road prowess has merged with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' street racing chops.

The result is the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX, a 702-hp pickup that'll zip from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds, a new standard for truck performance. The bulky powerhouse is loaded with a premium interior and technology. It comes with the supercharged, 6.2-liter Hemi V-8 that powers Dodge's Hellcat line.

After Ford took a shot at Jeep with the Bronco in July, Ram responded by leapfrogging the high-performance F-150 Raptor last week. The TRX, which tops out at 118 mph, is slated to go into production early in the fourth quarter and is expected to arrive in dealerships by the end of the year.

The TRX — a play on "T. rex" — will mark the arrival of the newest predator in the pickup world. Ram's North America head, Mike Koval Jr., said the battle will hark back to the prehistoric era by declaring that the TRX "destroys" Raptors.

Now it appears the truck sector won't have to wait long to see Ford bite back with the F-150 Raptor, a bruising pickup in its own right that achieves 450 hp in its current form. Ford's pickup was spotted recently during testing with the supercharged 5.2-liter V-8 engine that powers the Mustang Shelby GT500. It reportedly gets 725 to 750 hp, according to spy photography company Spiedbilde.

A Ford source told Spiedbilde: "Honestly, we had to counter Ram once we knew they installed the Hellcat in the TRX."

Analyst Karl Brauer wasn't surprised to see that Ford already has a response in the cards.

"You can't keep a secret in this industry, and I think there's been rumors for a while that Ram was going to unleash something along the lines of a Raptor," Brauer told Automotive News. "I think Ford, wisely, started prepping for such a contingency with their own Raptor efforts and studying the options to crank things up a bit in the Raptor if and when necessary."

History repeats

Building a wildly quick pickup is nothing new for Chrysler.

The performance rush in the pickup segment reminds Brauer of the 1970s, when the muscle car era neared its end because of emissions rules, but trucks had lighter requirements. He said trucks "could continue to be more performance-oriented well into the mid-'70s, when the cars were not allowed to."

He pointed to Dodge, which delivered the Lil' Red Express truck during that period.

"It was quicker than the Corvette at the time, and it was quicker than the Pontiac Firebird," Brauer said. "It was a 360-cubic-inch V-8 engine with a four-barrel carburetor, but you couldn't put it in, with that kind of horsepower and emissions, a car at that point. [But] you could put it in a truck."

In the early 2000s, Chrysler pushed the envelope again with the Dodge Ram SRT-10, a pickup outfitted with a Viper engine that debuted for the 2004 model year. The automaker called the SRT-10 the "Viper of pickup trucks" and earned a Guinness World Records entry for "world's fastest production pickup truck."

Koval said the Ram SRT-10, with its 500-hp Viper-sourced V-10 engine that delivered 154 mph, was "absolute batshit crazy."

"So you can see," Koval said, "we're no strangers to extreme performance trucks."

Koval said FCA has taken everything its truck brand has learned about performance and off-road capability and married that to the knowledge that its SRT crew has gathered through the years about "going fast and breaking records."

Koval said TRX buyers will be people who value fun, adventure and off-road excursions. The model will help the brand compete in a diverse pickup space in which the vehicles have numerous roles, including work, family haulers, luxury cruisers and enthusiast trucks, with the TRX falling into that final category.

FCA reengineered and fortified the frame for the TRX, which is 75 percent different from the 1500.

The TRX, FCA said, is "8 inches wider when compared to the rest of the Ram 1500 lineup."

The speedy hauler has a ground clearance of 11.8 inches, FCA said, "due in part to a 2-inch ride height increase when compared with the rest of the 1500 lineup, along with 35-inch tires." FCA said the combination enables the pickup to clear surface obstacles easily and at high speeds.

The TRX has five drive modes: Auto, Sport, Tow, Snow and Custom.

There is no rotary shifter, as FCA opted for a console-mounted automatic shifter, which is "really core at the heart of performance for this truck," said Ryan Nagode, who heads the Ram interior studios and interior systems.

Halo effect

Koval expects the average TRX customer to be 50 years old, possibly already owning a high-performance vehicle. This owner would lean toward the TRX in most cases when it's time to head out because of the pickup's utility.

Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions, doesn't see the TRX doing major volume. It'll be used to draw people into dealerships and bring attention to Ram's other trucks.

Fiorani says the TRX likely won't be produced for long. He believes FCA will keep it rare.

"This is about creating a product that's a halo for the Ram brand," Nagode said. "It's built upon our award-winning Ram 1500 lineup, which I think brings confidence to what we've applied."

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