2014 Ram 1500 Tradesman/express on 2040-cars

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Chrysler uses Super Bowl spots to honor troops, farmers

How do you follow up such revered and successful ads as Chrysler's last two Super Bowl commercials? Imported from Detroit and Halftime in America should be given credit for giving the automaker's public perception a complete overhaul after its rescue from the brink with taxpayer money. What next, then?
We just found out during Super Bowl XLVII. This year Chrysler went with two commercials, one for Jeep and the other Ram. The two-minute-long Jeep commercial, called Whole Again, is narrated by Oprah Winfrey and presented as an open letter to the service men and women of America, simply expressing admiration for what they do - poignant message coming from a company whose history is so entwined with that of the military's.
The Ram commercial, called Farmer, honors the agricultural backbone of this country. Its soundtrack is a speech entitled "So God Made a Farmer" given by the famous radio broadcaster Paul Harvey, which plays over a slideshow of original photography commissioned by Ram. The images, of course, focus on farming and the people who do it for a living, and there's a few Ram trucks in there, as well.

More details on the Hellcat-powered Ram Rebel TRX

We got our last big scoop on the coming Ram Rebel TRX last summer, when Jordan Denhoed caught a pack of prototypes testing in Michigan's Silver Lake Sand Dunes. We'd heard then that as opposed to the TRX concept, the production truck would unlock the full 707 horsepower from its 6.2-liter Hellcat V8, and use a traditional shift lever to work the gears of a 10-speed automatic. Now Mopar Insiders and Allpar have another batch of details that both sides said were gleaned from insiders with knowledge of the product. The looks, which will hew closely to the concept, have apparently already been teased. The Dodge and Ram corners of FCA like to foreshadow future offerings in their press photos and flyers, Ram doing so again on a graphic that advertised the FCA 2020 Drive for Design contest, pictured. We're told to expect the same twin-vented hood and flared arches front and back, as well as a new take on the current Ram Rebel grille that frames headlights from the Laramie Black trim. The side-exit exhaust would be cool, but we doubt it makes production. That extra width necessitates amber marker lights. The Ford F-150 Raptor, which uses the same lights for the same reason, places its markers along the top edge of the grille just below the grille surround. Mopar Insiders says the Rebel TRX's amber markers will lurk inside the large hood scoop. The Hellcat will get plenty of air from additional vents astride the headlights, and vent its heat through extractor vents just ahead of the windshield and ahead of the front doors. In lieu of any Hellcat badging save for on the supercharger, script on the hood in the same font as the Rebel TRX concept will read, "6.2L Supercharged." In back, yet more vents mimic those in the front fascia, this time placed next to the taillights. There will be an LED CHMSL, and larger diameter exhaust tips poking out of the bumper. Inside, Allpar says Ram plans to follow the Dodge SRT template by loading up the interior; the question is whether there will be a base model, or if it's only SRT plus options. The luxury angle means the 12-inch Uconnect infotainment system will be standard, with off-road-specific screens among the Performance Pages. Allpar confirms the conventional shifter, and Mopar Insiders says the lever will be joined by aluminum shift paddles borrowed from the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio. The paddles will be longer than those in the Italian crossover, and mounted on the steering wheel.

Ram/Jeep Ecodiesel engine has Maserati roots

The 3.0L turbodiesel V6 in the 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel earned a slot on Ward's Automotive 2014 10 Best Engines for its power, fuel economy and refinement. In a piece looking at how Fiat subsidiary VM Motor developed the engine, Ward's also makes note of the fact that the same lump goes in diesel versions of the Maserati Quattroporte and Ghibli. They're tuned a bit differently, naturally, with the QP putting out 275 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque, the smaller, lighter Ghibli making do with the same number of horses but a lower torque output of 420 lb-ft.
The 240 horsepower and 420 pound-feet put out by the oil-burning six-cylinder in the Ram was tamed with a host of advances, but it appears that Ram hasn't tamed demand: the initial allocation of 8,000 engines was spoken for within three days of the truck going on sale. Head over to Ward's to read the story of how Ram worked out the equation light-duty-pickup + diesel = success.