2014 Ram 1500 Tradesman on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Pickup sales may hit 2M units for first time since 2007

Even as fuel prices creep back up, trucks are still a hot item among new-vehicle shoppers. To see how popular pickup trucks still are, you don't have to look any further than how much effort automakers put into the continual one-upmanship of their trucks. Backing this fact up, USA Today is reporting that the segment could top two million sales this year - a total not matched since 2007, though still far from the pre-recession, three-million-unit levels.
Through August, the Ford F-Series continues to be the segment leader with almost 500,000 units sold, but the Chevy Silverado (328,269), Ram 1500 (234,642), GMC Sierra (122,232) and Toyota Tacoma (110,293) are all seeing at least 20-percent sales increases, helping to account for around 1.44 million truck sales so far this year - not including possible outliers like the Suzuki Equator and Chevy Avalanche.
This year alone, General Motors has completely redesigned its fullsize trucks, Ram and Toyota have significantly updated their offerings, the next-gen Ford F-150 will be out next year and Nissan is promising an all-new Titan around the same time with an eventual Cummins diesel under the hood. It would seem, then, that truck sales are poised to continue their upward trend.

2014 Ram 1500 Diesel

Remember when Mahindra & Mahindra was close to offering a compact diesel pickup here? A million voices from the truck-and-bed-loving tribes of the Internet cried out at once in anticipation, only to be silenced in disappointment when it didn't happen. And this was for a jitney with a bed that didn't exactly look robust in its press photos. The message these fans had was clear: light-duty truck + a diesel engine = a prayer answered for a significant contingent of truck buyers.
Ram tells us a fullsize diesel half-ton has been the number-one demand from customers, and it will be the first manufacturer to grand the wish when the 2014 Ram 1500 goes on sale early next year - "late availability" in Q1 of 2014 is the official word - with a 3.0-liter, six-cylinder turbodiesel provided by VM Motori. If you're wondering about the engine source, VM Motori has been a Chrysler supplier since 1992. DaimlerChrysler bought VM Motori in 2000, and after a few ownership-stake changes since then, it is presently a 50-50 joint venture between General Motors and Fiat. That will change shortly, however, with Fiat recently announcing it will buy GM's share and take full control of the company.
Driving Notes

Ram Truck's Gear Up! hunting series teaches you how to gut a deer

Ram knows that hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts make up a key demographic of its trucks' sales, so late last year it started an Internet hunting video series called Gear Up! on YouTube hosted by a variety of attractive ladies dressed in camouflage. (Ram knows its target audience, eh?).
This series has been going since October, but it caught our eye with a recent episode that gives instructions on how to properly gut (or dress) a deer. There are no graphic images, but Megan (this episode's host) does provide detailed and frank - if slightly surreal - deer-processing tips in a cheerful tone. For example: "Begin sliding your knife up the deer's belly towards its neck" and "sever the final tubes of the rectum." Oh, and this gem: "At this point, you'll need to get a little limber and actually stick your hand and knife up through the hole that is now visible leading into the deer's throat..."
Keep in mind, this is one of the advanced videos, so if you're really trying to learn how to hunt deer, you should start from the earlier, beginner-level videos in this Hunting 101 series. Scroll down if you'd like to learn how to clean a deer carcass Ram-style, and we've even included a few of the other how-to videos (including how to choose a taxidermist!) in this somewhat bizarre lifestyle marketing series.