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Ram shows off its 2019 Heavy Duty trucks in Laramie Longhorn trim

It may not be everyone's bag (baby), but Ram's high-end Laramie Longhorn trim level has proven quite successful for the truck maker. The Southwestern-themed kit has won the Luxury Pickup Truck of Texas award three years in a row, and you know how popular fullsize pickups are in the the great state of Texas. No surprise, then, that the truck is making its debut today at the Houston Auto Show just a week after other trim levels of Ram's 2019 2500 and 3500 Heavy Duty pickup truck line were displayed in Detroit. Like other 2019 Ram HDs, the Laramie Longhorn comes standard with a 6.4-liter gasoline-fueled Hemi V8 sending 410 horsepower and 429 pound-feet of torque through an 8-speed automatic. Two diesel engines are optional, both sourced from Cummins, both displacing 6.7 liters, and both mated up with 6-speed automatic transmissions. The first step up the diesel ladder nets the buyer 370 hp and 850 lb-ft. But the big dog is the High Output inline-six-cylinder diesel with 400 horsepower and a superlative-defying 1,000 lb-ft of torque at just 1,800 rpm. What sets the Laramie Longhorn apart from lesser models are its interior furnishings. It's heavy on full-grain leather, but now boasts a new alligator skin-embossed surface over the center console, instrument panel, seats and door-panel inserts. Warm-hued satin chrome and brushed nickel trim are unique to the Longhorn, as are barn-wood accent pieces. The interior color offerings include a two-tone brown and a black and tan package. Outside, the Laramie Longhorn offers optional RV Match Walnut Brown bumpers and flares for those who want a unified towing experience. Wheels measuring 20 inches in diameter are offered in various finishes, and the badges are inspired by large belt buckles. See for yourself in the image gallery up above. If you find the style appealing, prefer to travel with your vacation home in tow, and don't mind a starting price that's sure to approach $60,000 with the base V8, Ram promises its Heavy Duty haulers will ride better than their Ford or Chevy equivalents due to their five-link coil and air-bag supported suspension systems. Plus, with a max tow rating of 35,100 pounds courtesy of the the Cummins H.O. powertrain, Ram has bragging rights as the baddest truck in town... for now. Related Video:

Coronavirus shakes up America's truck market: GM outselling Ford and Ram

FCA, Ford and General Motors joined the rest of the U.S. auto industry in taking heavy volume hits due to coronavirus-related shortages of both cars and customers. The saying goes that a rising tide lifts all boats; it stands to reason, then, that a falling one would have the opposite effect.  However, as we learned Thursday, the automotive market can behave in unpredictable ways. While the F-Series remained the best-selling nameplate in Q1, GM's full-size trucks are now outselling Ford's again for the first time in years, and with this upward thrust from the General, FCA's Ram was unceremoniously booted out of a hard-earned second place.  While late-March sales declines hit just about every major automaker in one way or another, the model-by-model results weren't nearly so uniform. And because the market tends to be a zero-sum game, for every winner, there generally has to be a loser.  In this case, that winner was GM, and its rise had to come at the expense of another automaker, in this case, Ford. F-Series sales dropped 13.1 percent in the first quarter of 2020, while sales of GM's full-sized Silverado and Sierra surged nearly 28% in the same period. FCA's Ram lineup managed a steady-as-she-goes 7% increase. All-in, GM finished the quarter with 197,743 full-size trucks sold to Ford's 186,562. Here's the full breakdown: Ford F-Series: 186,562  Chevrolet Silverado*: 144,734 Ram P/U: 128,805 GMC Sierra: 53,009 *includes 1,036 Medium Duty sales Things are a but murkier in the midsize segment, where the Chevy Colorado slipped 36% to just 21,430 units sold — just a few hundred better than the slow-selling Ford Ranger's Q1 numbers. The GMC Canyon experienced an almost identical slide, finishing the quarter with just 4,483 units sold. For perspective, Jeep sold more than 15,000 Gladiators and Toyota's midsize Tacoma slipped less than 8%, finishing the quarter with nearly 54,000 sales.  We suspect this discrepancy in full- and mid-size truck sales comes from shifting incentives. Ford, GM and FCA would like to keep selling bigger trucks because there's far more profit margin built into their list prices. Even with tens of thousands of dollars in manufacturer money on the hood, big trucks still make money.  Since these automakers report quarterly, we won't get another good look at these numbers until July, but if you thought that 2019 represented the new normal for U.S. auto sales, well, think again.

Ram boosts Heavy Duty truck claims for 2015 [w/video]

The heavy-duty truck segment boasts some of the tightest competition of any automotive niche in the US. Being able to tout just one best-in-class figure can be a marketing advantage over competitors, and Ram Trucks is adding one more accolade to its tally with a powertrain update for the 2015 Ram 2500 and 3500 Heavy Duty pickups. Ram now claims best-in-class ratings for torque, towing and payload, depending on configuration.
The major change comes for the 3500 HD with a boost in torque for its Cummins 6.7-liter, inline-six diesel engine. It now produces a meaty 865 pound-feet of twist, a boost of 15 lb-ft, which is the best figure in its segment, according to the company. To eek out the extra power, the mill has more aggressive fuel delivery, and the turbo has been recalibrated. Of course, more grunt would be meaningless if drivers couldn't do anything with it, and the tweaks help allow payload to grow to 7,390 pounds, up from a rating of 7,320 pounds last year. The max towing rating remains unchanged at 30,000 pounds, though.
The rest of the powertrain lineup carries over from last year. The base HD mill is the gasoline-fed 5.7-liter V8 with 383 hp and 400 lb-ft and a six-speed automatic. The next step up is a 6.4-liter V8 with 410 hp and 429 lb-ft. There are also three trims of the 6.7-liter Cummins diesel starting with 350 hp and 660 lb-ft with a six-speed manual gearbox. If buyers opt for a the 68RFE six-speed auto, they get 370 hp and 800 lb-ft. Finally, there's the updated, top-rung version with 385 hp and 865 lb-ft with an Aisin six-speed automatic transmission.