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Ram 2500HD, 3500HD Kentucky Derby edition gives a leg up to horse owners

This year will be the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs, an event and a track Ram has sponsored for the past 10 years. To celebrate the milestones, Ram's unveiled a Kentucky Derby Limited Edition of the recently introduced 2500 HD and 3500 HD. The truck maker specced equipment meant to give breeders and their crews confidence when hauling multi-million-dollar, 3-year-old Thoroughbreds. That means trailering technology like the 360-degree surround-view camera with trailer-reverse guidance, fifth-wheel/gooseneck prep, and air suspension with bed lowering. There's also Forward Collision Warning-Plus with trailer braking, and a bed step. Starting with the Limited trim, those features come as part of the Limited Level 1 Equipment Group, Towing Technology Group, and 5th Wheel/Gooseneck Towing Group. That bundle throws in the Uconnect 12-inch touchscreen radio with Sirius XM 360L and navigation, power-retracting running boards and blind-spot monitoring, too. The combined price of those packages alone is $3,885. Ram has priced the Kentucky Derby trucks at $66,890 for the 2500 HD, $68,240 for the 3500, plus a $1,695 destination fee for both. That's $2,250 more than the base price of the 2500 Limited, and just $625 more than the entry-level 3500 Limited. The extra-cost equipment doesn't end there, though. A billet-appearance grille sets the tone up front, body-colored bumpers are fitted front and rear, and a DOT safety kit gets stashed in a cubby. The interior's been dressed in black and saddle brown leather with greystone stitching and piping. Ram has capped production at 1,000 units, available in almost every configuration possible on the 2500 and 3500: Cummins 6.7-liter Turbo Diesel I-6 in standard or 1,000 foot-pound trim, 6.4-liter Hemi V8, 4x2 or 4x4, Mega Cab or Crew Cab, single rear wheel or dual rear wheel, 6-foot-4 or 8-foot bed lengths. The only exclusion appears to be that you can't order the truck in Billet Silver Metallic, one hue in the eight-strong exterior palette. If you're OK with that, then giddy up.

Stellantis expects to hit emissions target without Tesla's help

Franco-Italian carmaker Stellantis expects to achieve its European carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions targets this year without environmental credits bought from Tesla, its CEO said in an interview published on Tuesday. Stellantis was formed through the merger of France's PSA and Italy's FCA, which spent about 2 billion euros ($2.40 billion) to buy European and U.S. CO2 credits from electric vehicle maker Tesla over the 2019-2021 period. "With the electrical technology that PSA brought to Stellantis, we will autonomously meet carbon dioxide emission regulations as early as this year," Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares said in the interview with French weekly Le Point. "Thus, we will not need to call on European CO2 credits and FCA will no longer have to pool with Tesla or anyone." California-based Tesla earns credits for exceeding emissions and fuel economy standards and sells them to other automakers that fall short. European regulations require all car manufacturers to reduce CO2 emissions for private vehicles to an average of 95 grams per kilometer this year. A Stellantis spokesman said the company is in discussions with Tesla about the financial implications of the decision to stop the pooling agreement. "As a result of the combination of Groupe PSA and FCA, Stellantis will be in a position to achieve CO2 targets in Europe for 2021 without open passenger car pooling arrangements with other automakers," he added. Tesla's sales of environmental credits to rival automakers helped it to announce slightly better than expected first-quarter revenue this week. The next tightening of European regulations will soon be the subject of proposals from the European Commission. The 2030 target could be lowered to less than 43 grams/km. Related Video: Government/Legal Green Alfa Romeo Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep Maserati RAM Tesla Citroen Peugeot Emissions Stellantis

Ram goes all-in on SAE J2807 tow ratings [w/video]

Thanks to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), when car shoppers look at horsepower and torque figures on vehicles, they know that all the automakers are calculating them the same way. However, that isn't the case when it comes to truck buyers and max towing capacity ratings because each company figures the value differently. That practice finally changes with the SAE's standardized J2807 system, though, and Ram Truck is the first one to apply the new test procedure to its entire light- and heavy-duty pickup range.
All models of the Ram 1500, 2500 and 3500 use the new, standardized rating for the 2015 model year, but buyers might not notice too much difference. According to the company, in 99 percent of cases the max towing weights are unchanged or even improve slightly from last year. That's a strong result compared to the 2015 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra that are seeing few increases but mostly decreases under the new testing procedure.
"For too long, an uneven playing field existed and towing capacities went unchecked. We're happy to be the only pickup truck manufacturer to align with the SAE J2807 towing standard across our pickup truck lineup," said Mike Cairns, director of Ram Truck engineering, in the company's announcement of the new specs.