2021 Ram 1500 Classic on 2040-cars

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2020 Ram 3500 dually spied with updated styling and new lighting

Just yesterday, we got our first look at the upcoming Ram 2500 Power Wagon, a replacement for FCA's aging heavy duty truck lineup. Today, we get a look at the new Ram 3500 dually, big workhorse of HD lineup. Like with the 2500, we expect the new truck's styling to fall in line with the new 2019 Ram 1500. Expect a full reveal sometime early next year. Just like with the Power Wagon in yesterday's photos, this Ram 3500 is covered with copious amounts of camouflage. You can make out some LED lighting through the front, but that's about it as far as details go. The fenders appear to sit higher than the current model, though it should still have a bit of a drop from the hood. Though it's hard to see here, the grille is likely to lose the crosshair design, too. Really, just imagine the new Ram 1500 cranked up a notch or two and you'll have the new HD lineup. We don't know what powertrains the new Ram 3500 will use, but expect a mix of Hemi V8s and Cummins diesels. The new eTorque system might make it's way over, too, helping provide a slight boost to both torque and efficiency. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Ram wants its midsize truck situation 'fixed soon'

The rumors of a midsize Ram pickup are like a metronome — sometimes in motion, sometimes dead. This week the rumor is alive, so reports Automotive News. Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley admitted during an earnings call that the lack of a mid-sizer is "a clear hole in our portfolio," and that the Ram product development team is "focused on it." Puzzling that out means finding "a cost-effective platform in a region where we can build it with low cost and it still being applicable in the market." But he wants a solution found soon. During the product roadmap presentation FCA made in June last year, late CEO Sergio Marchionne said the middling pickup would be built in Mexico. That tidbit came after years of Marchionne saying the brand would get in the segment, only to have the idea shot down by Ram bosses. At the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, a year after the midsize Dodge Dakota went off the market, Marchionne said the brand would reinstate a new-generation Dakota, with a better-than-50% chance it would be unibody. In 2013, then-Ram president Reid Bigland said the chances were tiny because the numbers didn't add up. The two men got on the same page, in favor of, in 2014. In March 2016, Marchionne said, "I like that space a lot," and "It's a good space to be in." Exactly one month later, then-Ram CEO Bog Hegbloom said the idea was dead because he couldn't make a business case for it. Come early 2018, even Marchionne had joined the naysayers. He told Automobile, "We did not think it was necessary to re-enter that market after our last experience." The snag was, and remains, that a smaller truck has "a cost structure very similar to our Ram 1500. We have not found an economic way to get this done." Four months later, there's a midsize pickup on the product roadmap. Then, at this year's New York Auto Show, Ram Trucks boss Jim Morrison told us Ram had no plans yet for a smaller pickup, although the division continues to look at its options. Last September an Automotive News report forecast the truck to be built in Toledo alongside the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator pickup. When Car and Driver asked for clarification about Toledo or Mexico, FCA pointed to Marchionne's comments referring to Mexico. It appears that's the angle Manley and his team are still trying to make work. The Saltillo, Mexico, assembly plant now builds Ram's heavy-duty trucks, but observers expect HD production to move to the U.S. to make room for the smaller pickup.

Stellantis reports surprising 2020 results, is 'off to a flying start'

MILAN — Low global car inventories and cost cuts should boost Stellantis's profit margins this year, though a shortage of semiconductors and investments in electric vehicles could weigh on results, the newly-formed automaker said on Wednesday. The forecast came as Stellantis, created by the January merger of Peugeot-maker PSA and Fiat Chrysler (FCA), reported better-than-expected results for 2020 that sent its shares up around 3% in morning trading. "Stellantis gets off to a flying start and is fully focused on achieving the full promised synergies (from the merger)," Chief Executive Carlos Tavares said in a statement. Stellantis is the world's fourth largest carmaker, with 14 brands including Fiat, Peugeot, Opel, Jeep, Ram and Maserati. It said 2021 results should be helped by three new high-margin Jeep vehicles in North America and a strong pricing environment there. The U.S. market has driven profits for years at FCA and starts off as the strongest part of Stellantis. The group's guidance assumes no more significant lockdowns caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered auto plants around the world last spring. Stellantis should also get a lift as its starts to implement a plan aimed at delivering over 5 billion euros a year in savings, without closing any plants. Tavares has also pledged not to cut jobs. But a pandemic-related global shortage of semiconductors, used for everything from maximizing engine fuel economy to driver-assistance features, could hurt business. Auto industry executives have said the shortage should ease by the second half of 2021. Stellantis said its "electrification offensive" could also weigh on results this year. Automakers are racing to develop electric vehicles to meet tighter CO2 emissions targets in Europe and this week Volvo joined a growing number of carmakers aiming for a fully-electric line-up by 2030. Stellantis plans to have fully-electric or hybrid versions of all of its vehicles available in Europe by 2025, broadly in line with plans at top rivals such as Volkswagen and Renault-Nissan, although Stellantis has further to go to meet that goal. The carmaker is targeting an adjusted operating profit margin of 5.5%-7.5% this year. That compares with a 5.3% aggregated margin last year: 4.3% at FCA and 7.1% at PSA excluding a controlling stake in parts maker Faurecia, which is set to be spun-off from Stellantis shortly.