2012 Ram 3500 Laramie Longhorn Crew Cab Pickup 4-door 6.7l High Output Motor on 2040-cars

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Ram's 700 mini-truck blends Fiat genes with 1500 styling cues

Ram's on-again, off-again sub-1500 pickup is allegedly on its way to production, but we haven't seen it yet. In the meantime, the company's Mexican division introduced a trucklet named 700 built on a unibody architecture. The 700's positioning suggests it picks up where the Dakota left off, but it's a completely different breed of truck. And, while its unibody bones are reminiscent of the Honda Ridgeline, it's a much smaller model that's essentially a badge-engineered version of the Fiat Strada. No, not the hatchback briefly sold in the United States from 1979 to 1982; we're talking about the little, economy car-derived pickup sold in dozens of global markets. Think of the 700 as the Dodge Rampage's distant heir. Visually, its front end borrows a handful of styling cues from the 1500, including an upright grille characterized by a bold Ram emblem and mesh inserts. Called SLT, the base model wears a decidedly downmarket look with black plastic bumpers and steel wheels covered by plastic hubcaps. The mid-range Big Horn blurs the line between a commercial vehicle and a crossover with a practical cargo box, while the range-topping Laramie variant is aimed at motorists who want an outdoorsy daily driver. Ram offers two- and four-door models, though only the SLT is available in the former configuration. The 700 boasts a usable 1,653-pound payload and an 880-pound towing capacity. Power comes from a 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine that sends 84 horsepower to the front wheels via a five-speed manual transmission. Buyers can pay extra for a turbocharged, 1.3-liter four that delivers 98 horsepower. It doesn't appear that four-wheel drive is available, and there's no automatic transmission on the menu. Small and cheap doesn't necessarily mean basic. The 700 can be equipped with a seven-inch touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay compatibility, a rear-view camera, and electronic driving aids such as ABS brakes and traction control, plus LED headlights. Laramie models also benefit from partial leather upholstery. Ram will release the 2021 700 in the Mexican market this month, but we're not expecting the model to find its way north to the U.S. Drivers who want a small, unibody truck will need to wait until Ford releases the Maverick, which will ride on the same basic platform as the Escape and the Bronco Sport. It's tentatively due out in 2021 as a 2022 model.

2021 Ram 1500 Review | What's new, specs, prices and pictures

This review is cram-packed with everything there is to know about the full 2021 Ram 1500 lineup, including the new 702-horsepower Ram TRX, so we'll go ahead and keep this intro brief. In short, the Ram 1500 continues to be our top full-size pickup choice. It's a grand slam, a hat trick, a 95-yard touchdown pass. From the humble Tradesman to the indulgent Limited, the Ram is a thoughtfully designed and well-executed truck that offers a little something for every buyer. And thanks to that TRX, "every buyer" now includes "guy who wants to go 103 in a desert wash while occasionally jumping a gorge." Sweet. What's new for 2021? While there are plenty of updates and additions for 2021, all are overshadowed by the new Ram 1500 TRX. We extolled its beastly virtues in our TRX first drive review, but in short, this long-awaited answer to the Ford Raptor packs a version of the "Hellcat" 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8 good for 702 hp and 650 pound-feet of torque. A new, unique-to-TRX suspension puts that absurd power to the dirt for high-speed desert running, while body modifications include a unique hood and grille, and the flared fenders that add to a whopping 8 extra inches of body width. The interior also gets its own design flourishes, plus a unique center console featuring a gear stick in place of the usual dash-mounted rotary knob.  Now, the other changes. Full-speed forward collision warning is now standard on all trims but Tradesman and Big Horn, which include it in an optional equipment group. Trailering is also made easier thanks to the newly Trailer Reverse Control (it basically steers for you while backing up while hitched to a trailer), power-folding trailer mirrors that are now a stand-alone option, and a new trailer camera prep kit. There's also a new color head-up display available as well as a camera-based rearview mirror. Finally, the new 2021 Limited Longhorn 10th Anniversary Edition features special badging and unique interior trim. 2019 Ram 1500 Interior View 56 Photos What are the Ram 1500 interior and in-car technology like? It's easy to be smitten by the Ram 1500 in its fanciest Longhorn and Limited trim levels, which are bedecked in soft leather, special color schemes and unique styling elements like the Longhorn emblem literally branded into real wood trim. There are unique features like the huge vertically oriented touchscreen and the ventilated reclining back seat. They're easily the most luxurious pickups ever made.

Fiat Chrysler dumped 40,000 unordered vehicles on dealers

In a move that echoes recent history, Fiat Chrysler has been making more cars and trucks than dealers in the U.S. are willing to accept, with Bloomberg reporting that at one point the automaker had built up a glut of around 40,000 unordered vehicles. That’s led some dealers to accuse FCA of reviving the dreaded “sales bank” accounting practice of obscuring inventory to improve the balance sheet. The company reportedly began building up its inventory of unordered cars this summer despite an industrywide slowdown in sales and an eagerness by some dealers to thin their inventories because rising interest rates are making it more expensive to hold unsold cars. The inventory build-up also coincided with Fiat ChryslerÂ’s efforts to find a merger partner, first with Renault, which fell through, then last monthÂ’s announcement that it will merge with FranceÂ’s PSA Group. FCA denies any such scheme and tells Bloomberg the rising inventory is down to a new predictive analytics system designed to better square supply with demand from dealers that is helping the company save money and narrow the numbers of unsold vehicles. The company recently agreed to pay a $40 million civil penalty to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle a complaint that it paid dealers to report fake sales figures over a span of five years. While no one is suggesting that FCA is in dire financial straits — the company saw higher than expected earnings in the third quarter and record profits in North America — the practice has strong historical precedent by Chrysler, which built up bloated inventories in the run-up to its two federal bailouts, in 1980 and 2009. It was also common at GM and Ford during the 2000s, when all three Detroit automakers struggled with excess manufacturing capacity and plummeting sales in the lead-up to the Great Recession. Back in 2012, CFO Magazine wrote about a report that explained automakersÂ’ rationale for the practice and how it works: Say fixed costs for a given factory are $100, and that the factory can make 50 cars. Consumers, however, demand only 10. Under absorption costing, if the company makes all 50 cars, its cost-per-car is $2. If it makes only up to demand, or 10 cars, the cost-per-car is $10. Although each car adds variable costs for steel and other parts, if those costs are low, the company still has an incentive to make more cars to keep the cost-per-car down.