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Ram Power Wagon Mojave Sand limited edition has true grit

Just last week Ram informed us of the red and blue Harvest Edition chassis cab trucks that match Case IH and New Holland hardware, and now there's a new color theme edition available. We last saw Ram's Mojave Sand hue on the 2017 Ram Rebel truck, shown to the public at the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show, but now the color debuts on a Ram Heavy Duty truck for the first time. Ram is introducing a limited, 1,500-unit Mojave Sand edition of the 2018 Power Wagon. The limited edition has contrasting black details and graphics, giving it a nice desert-style look; you won't mistake it with a similarly colored Ram Rebel as the truck proudly proclaims POWER WAGON on the cabin end of the bed — not to mention it rides quite a bit higher. The all-black wheels are also new, shod with 33-inch Goodyears, and the interior is fully black, with features from the Heavy Duty Luxury Group like LED bed lighting and an overhead console. But the Power Wagon is much more than just add-ons: Underneath, it's a 2500 HD 4x4 Crew Cab with the 6.4-liter Hemi V8 providing 410 horsepower. There's a suspension kit offering more than two inches of lift, giving the truck a total of 14.3 inches of ground clearance. As well as an electrically disconnecting front sway bar, there are locking diffs front and rear and a 12,000-pound winch — it's like you're factory-instructed to go deep into Mojave Desert sand and then power your way out of it. The Mojave Sand package is a $795 bump to the standard Power Wagon, meaning the list price starts at over $55,000 including destination fees. The limited edition will be available during the fourth quarter of 2018. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Featured Gallery 2018 Ram Power Wagon Mojave Sand Edition Image Credit: Ram Trucks RAM Truck Off-Road Vehicles ram power wagon

Here's why automakers roll out those Texas-themed pickup trucks

Every year, automakers with a full-size truck link make a big show of the Texas State Fair, usually involving a reveal of a new model. Sometimes they show a whole new truck, and other times a special edition centered on the Lone Star state. While some people might write this off as a quirk of the industry, others might be wondering, "What's the big deal with Texas?" As it turns out, part of the big deal with Texas is big truck sales. According to Dave Sullivan, product analysis manager at AutoPacific, Texas buys more trucks than any other state in the country. It's not a small margin either. Edmunds.com, one in five trucks sold in the US are sold in Texas. The state also accounts for 15 percent of the country's large truck sales, which is more than twice that of California, the second largest truck market in America. Even when you break down sales only in Texas, trucks are a huge piece of the pie - Sullivan says that a quarter of new vehicle sales in Texas are trucks. One in five trucks sold in the US are sold in Texas. But it's not just sales that make truck builders give attention to Texas. As Sullivan explained, "Pickups are life in Texas." Both he and Hugh Milne, marketing and advertising manager for the Chevy Silverado line, said that trucks are key fixtures in Texas society, as both work trucks and luxury vehicles (or Texas Cadillacs as Milne called them). Milne said Texas is so important in the truck market that if you want to be successful in the rest of the country, "you've got to be successful in Texas." As for the State Fair, it has become a prime location for reveals in part because of the importance of the Texas market and because of how big the fair is. Milne also revealed that the State Fair also hosts its own auto show, so it's an ideal venue for a vehicle introduction. So there you have it. Why do truck builders obsess over Texas? It's because Texas obsesses over trucks. When you have one market that loves your product that much, you give it the attention it deserves. Related Video: Image Credit: Donovan Reese via Getty Images Auto News Marketing/Advertising Chevrolet Ford RAM Truck f-150 texas state fair

China-FCA merger could be a win-win for everyone but politicians

NEW YORK — Fiat Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne has said the car industry needs to come together, cut costs and stop incinerating capital. So far, his words have mostly fallen on deaf ears among competitors in Europe and North America. But it appears Marchionne has finally found a receptive audience — in China. FCA shares soared Monday after trade publication Automotive News reported the $18 billion Italian-American conglomerate controlled by the Agnelli family rebuffed a takeover from an unidentified carmaker from the Chinese mainland. As ugly as the politics of such a combination may appear at first blush, a transaction could stack up industrially, and perhaps even financially. A Sino-U.S.-European merger would create the first truly global auto group. That could push consolidation to the next level elsewhere. Moreover, China is the world's top market for the SUVs that Jeep effectively invented, so it might benefit FCA financially. A combo would certainly help upgrade the domestic manufacturer; Chinese carmakers have gotten better at making cars, but struggle to build global brands, and they need to develop export markets. Though frivolous overseas shopping excursions by Chinese enterprises are being reined in by Beijing, acquisitions that support the modernization and transformation of strategic industries still receive support, and the government considers the automotive industry to be strategic. A purchase of FCA by Guangzhou Automobile, Great Wall or Dongfeng Motors would probably get the same stamp of approval ChemChina was given for its $43 billion takeover of Syngenta. What's standing in the way? Apart from price (Automotive News said FCA's board deemed the offer insufficient) there's the not-insignificant matter of politics. Even as FCA shares soared, President Donald Trump interrupted his vacation to instruct the U.S. Trade Representative to look into whether to investigate China's trade policies on intellectual property. Seeing storied Detroit brands like Jeep, Chrysler, Ram and Dodge handed off to a Chinese company would provoke howls among Trump's economic-nationalist supporters. It might not play well in Italy, either, to see Alfa Romeo and Maserati answering to Wuhan instead of Turin — though Automotive News said they might be spun off separately. Yet, as Morgan Stanley observes, "cars don't ship across oceans easily," and political considerations increasingly demand local manufacture of valuable products.