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Ram 1500 Marines-inspired Built to Serve edition wears tank-like green paint

Ram rolled out the latest addition to its military-inspired Built to Serve lineup of trucks right before Thanksgiving. Based on the hot-selling 1500, it's available in two distinct colors named Tank and Flame Red, respectively. Each branch of the U.S. armed forces is getting a variant of the truck, and the newest member of the range honors the Marine Corps. Like the three previously-unveiled 1500s, it receives a decal of the American flag and Built to Serve stickers on each quarter panel, black exterior trim pieces, body-colored fender flares, and 20-inch aluminum wheels finished in a shade called Technical Gray. Ram expects active-duty service members and veterans will scoop up most of the production run, so it added Velcro panels on the side of each front seat that let motorists display the patch of their choice, whether it's a flag, a name badge, or a unit insignia. It also added front sport seats upholstered in cloth and vinyl, all-weather floor mats, and an emblem on the dashboard, while the Marines-inspired model gets Medium Greystone accent stitching. Buyers can combine the Built to Serve appearance package with all body styles and powertrains, even if they haven't served in the armed forces. Every truck comes with the 4x4 Off-Road Group, which bundles features like all-terrain tires, an electronic-locking rear axle, hill descent control, tow hooks, and four thick skid plates. Ram will start taking orders for the latest Built to Serve 1500 in December 2020, and production is scheduled to start in early 2021 at the firm's Sterling Heights, Michigan, plant. Pricing information hasn't been published yet, but production will be limited to 1,000 trucks finished in Tank and an additional 1,000 units painted Flame Red. The fifth and final member of the range, honoring the Coast Guard, will be unveiled in early 2021.  Related Video:

2019 Ram 1500 spotted with split tailgate

A little over three years ago, we discovered a patent from Fiat-Chrysler that showed a pickup truck tailgate that not only dropped down like a normal one, but was also split into two swing-out halves. It appears to be a reality now, since one of the Ram 1500 prototypes shown above has just such a tailgate. The tailgate above does look a bit different from the one shown in the patent drawings. For one thing, it's not a 50/50 split in the middle. Instead, Ram seems to have opted for something like a 60/40, or maybe 70/30 split. We're not sure exactly why this is, but there could be a few advantages. For one, It probably allows for the use of the same or nearly the same handle as on conventional Rams, as well as the same badging. For another, if the tailgate operates as described in the patent, it might be possible to open just one side without opening the other, and having the shorter piece could offer some flexibility in tight areas where a larger half couldn't open fully. Testing alongside the split tailgate truck were some other Ram 1500s that had their tailgates completely covered. They did reveal some other cargo management features that should show up on the production truck, such as a return of the RamBox bedside storage compartments. One of the trucks also revealed some ribbed bedsides that would allow the positioning of a cargo divider just about anywhere in the bed. We expect to see the new Ram 1500 to be fully revealed at the Detroit Auto Show in January. In the meantime, you can check out what we believe the production truck will look like, as well as everything we know about it, here. Related Video:

2021 Ram 1500 could finally get tech handed down from HD lineup

Based on details gleaned from spy shots of a 2021 Ram 1500 Laramie Sport Quad Cab 4x4 prototype, Mopar Insiders believes the 2021 Ram 1500 will adopt a few serious pickup convenience features, two of which have found homes on Ram heavy duty pickups for years. The first is towing mirrors with cameras as part of the pickup's 360-degree camera system. The Surround-View Cameras can be had as part of the Advanced Safety Group on the 1500 now, but they haven't been available with the trailer tow mirrors. On the heavy duty Rams, the Surround-View Cameras come as part of the Towing Technology Group. It's possible Ram will address the omission with next year's 1500 pickup. The same mirrors have been seen on the Ram 1500 Rebel TRX prototypes as well. The second hand-me-down from the heavy duty range is a bed-view camera mounted on an LED brake light at the back of the cab — Ram calls it the Center High-Mount Stop Lamp with Cargo View Camera. Some Ram owners making mods to their trucks, like installing a Tazer DT plug-in to access more vehicle settings, have discovered the camera line already installed as part of the harness. Next year could be when Ram decides to activate it. The last feature is trailer steering knob that serves a similar function to the Pro Trailer Backup Assist that can be optioned on the Ford F-150. The knob has been seen on leaked interior shots of the Rebel TRX, so it's assumed to spread to the rest of the 1500 trims. When backing up with a trailer, a driver turns the steering wheel in the opposite direction he wants to trailer to go. To make the job easier for occasional haulers, in a truck with trailer steering feature, the driver turns the dial in the direction he wants the trailer to go, and the software takes care of turning the truck to make the request happen. Since the fifth generation Ram 1500 only arrived for the 2019 model year, we don't expect substantive changes for 2021. Another big addition would be Uconnect 5, which debuts on the 2021 Pacifica but could slide to the Ram side of the family before the new model year. Related Video: