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Cummins builds 2-millionth diesel for Ram

Ahead of a new Ram Heavy Duty that will debut sometime next year (check out the spy shots below), Chrysler and Cummins are celebrating a milestone in a 24-year partnership that has supplied the Ram pickup with diesel engines.
In its early years, the Cummins straight-six turbo diesel was rated at just 160 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque, and its clattering 12 valves could be heard from a mile away. Its most recent configuration still uses a straight-six layout, but displacement grew to 6.7 liters in 2007 allowing the engine to now produce up to 385 hp and a whopping 850 lb-ft of torque. While a rumored smaller Cummins engine for use in the light-duty Ram 1500 never materialized, the work-ready 6.7-liter Cummins turbo diesel accounts for 80 percent of all Ram HD sales.
Chrysler has not yet announced when and where this two-millionth engine will be on display, but you can read more about the engine and the partnership in the press release below.

FCA nears plea deal in diesel emissions fraud probe

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is nearing an agreement to plead guilty to criminal conduct to resolve a multiyear emissions fraud probe surrounding Ram pickup trucks and Jeep sport-utility vehicles with diesel engines, people familiar with the matter said. FCA lawyers and U.S. Justice Department officials are brokering a plea deal that could be unveiled in coming weeks and include financial penalties totaling between $250 million and $300 million, the people said. Such a resolution with FCA, which is now part of Stellantis NV, would come more than four years after Volkswagen AG pleaded guilty to criminal charges  to resolve its own diesel-emissions scandal involving nearly 600,000 vehicles.It would also mark the final significant chapter in the government crackdown on automakers' emissions practices that was precipitated by Volkswagen's deception, which became known as "Dieselgate." The FCA investigation focuses on roughly 100,000 diesel-powered vehicles that allegedly evaded emissions requirements. The plea negotiations are fluid and some terms, including the size of any financial penalties, could change as discussions continue, the people said. Justice Department officials are preparing paperwork that will likely be negotiated with FCA to finalize the plea deal, which could result in changes and also present an outside chance for the agreement to fall apart, the people said. A plea agreement would cap a series of investigations dating back to 2015 surrounding diesel-powered vehicles in FCA's U.S. lineup. The current criminal investigation targets the U.S unit of the Italian-American automaker. The affected vehicles span model years 2014 to 2016. Representatives for FCA parent Stellantis and the Justice Department declined to comment. The scandals over emissions cheating tarnished diesel technology and accelerated the industry's shift to electric vehicles. The European automakers had promoted "clean diesel" technology as a way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and ease a transition to an all-electric future. When regulators on both sides of the Atlantic uncovered evidence that diesel vehicles polluted far more in real world driving, the argument for a slower transition to battery electric vehicles was shredded. Now, automakers are accelerating battery electric vehicle development to comply with tougher, post-Dieselgate pollution standards.

2021 Ram TRX to be revealed this summer

The wait for the 2021 Ram TRX will soon be over, FCA confirmed Thursday with a social media teaser. The much-anticipated, Hellcat-powered Raptor slayer will be revealed this summer.  This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Ram teased the unveiling on Twitter with a short video of the truck kicking up a massive desert dust cloud overlaid with the TRX badge and the caption, "It’s not a mirage." Make sure you enable sound, because the clip has audio, and you can hear the beating heart of the TRX — the same 6.2-liter supercharged V8 that powers FCA's Dodge Hellcat and Jeep Trackhawk models.  The engine sound in the clip lends credibility to a previous spy video purporting to show a group of TRX prototypes testing in Michigan's Silver Lake Sand Dunes.  This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The link in the tweet leads to a microsite which replays the same short clip but offers no additional information, which tracks with the slow-drip approach Ram has taken with teasing out its new truck. Much of what we know (or believe to be true) has come from unconfirmed sources and spy shots, but Ram has acknowledged that the Hellcat powerplant will make more than 700 horsepower, rather than the 500-some-odd figure originally expected.  From the above shots, we can tell the TRX will sport bulging box flares (a la Raptor) front and rear. The hood appears to be equally bulging, good for highlighting the supercharged V8 underneath. The front bumper is similar to that of the Ram 1500 Rebel's with more raised sections in front of the tires to provide more clearance. Ram 1500 TRX View 18 Photos We get a solid look under the body, too. Still present are the extra beefy suspension control arms front and rear. Skid plates seem to line the whole underside down the middle. The tires were Goodyear Wrangler all-terrains, though it was difficult to make out the actual size. Previous spy photos have revealed remote-reservoir shocks. The wheels at each end are six-lug units, so it seems Ram isn't playing with a heavy-duty axle like a previous prototype suggested. Whatever the case may be, we should be no more than a couple of months away from getting the official details on Ram's new Raptor competitor.  Related Video: