2025 Ram 1500 Big Horn/lone Star on 2040-cars

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Only in Japan: Dodge van one-make racing series is a thing

Japan seems willing to embrace a level of automotive insanity that many other places lack. Whether it's 1,200-horsepower Nissan GT-Rs blasting through tight, tree-lined mountain roads or advertisements with dances for the Toyota Prius Plug-in, the country definitely has a unique way of expressing a love for autos. The D-Van Grand Prix might be one of our favorite examples yet of crazy Japanese car culture, because the annual, one-make race at the Ebisu Circuit is exclusively for heavily customized Dodge vans. Like many great things, this wonderfully crazy idea came from a little rule breaking. D-Van Grand Prix organizer Takuro Abe was at a track event for a motorcycle racing school, and vans were used to haul the bikes around. During lunch someone came up with the idea for a race. Ignoring that the big machines weren't actually allowed on the circuit, the drivers headed out. The popularity has just grown since then. These days, the racing vans absolutely aren't the stock machines from the event's inspiration. In addition to stripped interiors and track rubber that you might expect, the list of mods for them is a mile long. For every possible advantage, the racers fit them with things like Brembo brakes, cross-drilled rotors, heavy-duty transmissions, and much more. Seeing vans lumbering around the track is very weird at first, but the racers take the competition very seriously. These folks even employ all sorts of little tricks to coax the most from the machines. This is a fascinating motorsports story, but be sure to turn on the subtitles to understand the interviews with the competitors.

2016 Jeep Wrangler recalled over impact sensor wiring

Fiat Chrysler just announced a pair of recalls totaling nearly 311,000 units. The bigger recall affects certain 2016 and 2017 model year Jeep Wranglers. Although, since FCA claims all of the affected 2017s are in the company's hands, really, only 2016 owners should pay attention here. The affected Wranglers suffer from an issue where wiring disconnects from impact sensors in certain types of crashes, potentially preventing the airbags and pretensioners from activating. FCA uncovered the problem in what its press release calls "a routine, in-house crash test" and claims "service availability is imminent." The affected Jeeps require a simple rewiring. The other recall, announced Tuesday, is more of a fleet issue, affecting 2007 to 2013 model-year Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups and 3500, 4500, and 5500 chassis cabs and 2011 to 2014 Dodge Charger Pursuit police vehicles. There's a problem with "premature diode wear" in alternators that are subject to "frequent load cycling, at or near maximum amperage, [or] in hot ambient temperatures." Affected alternators could short out, causing a vehicle to stall or potentially catch fire. FCA lists 182,743 affected Wranglers in the US, 18,011 in Canada, 3,087 in Mexico, and 20,948 in global markets. The Ram/ Charger Pursuit recall lists 74,833 vehicles in the US, 10,077 in Canada, 1,088 in Mexico, and 134 outside the NAFTA region. Of all those vehicles, the Jeep recall hasn't caused any injuries or fatalities, while FCA says it's aware of one "potentially related injury" and no accidents due to its fleet vehicle recall. FCA says it will notify owners/operators of affected vehicles when service appointments are available. As per usual, all the work is free of charge. Related Video:

2020 Fiat Ducato Electric is the Ram ProMaster's EV cousin

As we all know, the Ram ProMaster has Italian roots. Despite featuring a 3.6-liter, 24-valve Chrysler Pentastar V6 with 280 horsepower, the ProMaster was born a humble Fiat Ducato over a decade ago, the Ducato's roots stretching far into the past. There was even been a rebadged Alfa Romeo version of the Ducato in the early '80s, so badge engineering isn't a strange concept when it comes to this line of vans. Nevertheless, the mother company has come up with a Ducato that's not propelled by the Pentastar or a European diesel engine: the 2020 Ducato facelift will come with a fully electric powertrain in Europe. The Ducato Electric is the first EV from Fiat Professional, the work vehicle division. Earlier, there have been natural-gas-powered versions, which continue to form a part of the model palette, but a BEV Ducato is unprecedented. Still, or perhaps for that reason, Fiat is taking small steps when electrifying its van lineup: The Ducato Electric will at first be made available to "major clients" via pilot projects, which means trusted Fiat customer fleets will function as beta testers for the van, most likely only in Europe. No technical details are available yet, either, making the Ducato something of a Mystery Machine. These fleets, some of which have already helped to develop the EV van, can pre-order the Ducato Electric this year with the vehicles delivered in 2020. Even if the van's availability has a touch of '90s EV uncertainty, Fiat says there's "no compromise" in the van's load-carrying capacity and performance. We also expect more information to trickle out in the near future, and given how handy a silent yet torquey van is in some use cases, perhaps the Ram version will also get officially electrified at some point. Aftermarket solutions, like the Maxwell RHEV, already exist. Disclaimer: Autoblog accepts vehicle loans from auto manufacturers with a tank of gas and sometimes insurance for the purpose of evaluation and editorial content. Like most of the auto news industry, we also sometimes accept travel, lodging and event access for vehicle drive and news coverage opportunities. Our opinions and criticism remain our own — we do not accept sponsored editorial.