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Ram wants its midsize truck situation 'fixed soon'

The rumors of a midsize Ram pickup are like a metronome — sometimes in motion, sometimes dead. This week the rumor is alive, so reports Automotive News. Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley admitted during an earnings call that the lack of a mid-sizer is "a clear hole in our portfolio," and that the Ram product development team is "focused on it." Puzzling that out means finding "a cost-effective platform in a region where we can build it with low cost and it still being applicable in the market." But he wants a solution found soon. During the product roadmap presentation FCA made in June last year, late CEO Sergio Marchionne said the middling pickup would be built in Mexico. That tidbit came after years of Marchionne saying the brand would get in the segment, only to have the idea shot down by Ram bosses. At the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, a year after the midsize Dodge Dakota went off the market, Marchionne said the brand would reinstate a new-generation Dakota, with a better-than-50% chance it would be unibody. In 2013, then-Ram president Reid Bigland said the chances were tiny because the numbers didn't add up. The two men got on the same page, in favor of, in 2014. In March 2016, Marchionne said, "I like that space a lot," and "It's a good space to be in." Exactly one month later, then-Ram CEO Bog Hegbloom said the idea was dead because he couldn't make a business case for it. Come early 2018, even Marchionne had joined the naysayers. He told Automobile, "We did not think it was necessary to re-enter that market after our last experience." The snag was, and remains, that a smaller truck has "a cost structure very similar to our Ram 1500. We have not found an economic way to get this done." Four months later, there's a midsize pickup on the product roadmap. Then, at this year's New York Auto Show, Ram Trucks boss Jim Morrison told us Ram had no plans yet for a smaller pickup, although the division continues to look at its options. Last September an Automotive News report forecast the truck to be built in Toledo alongside the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator pickup. When Car and Driver asked for clarification about Toledo or Mexico, FCA pointed to Marchionne's comments referring to Mexico. It appears that's the angle Manley and his team are still trying to make work. The Saltillo, Mexico, assembly plant now builds Ram's heavy-duty trucks, but observers expect HD production to move to the U.S. to make room for the smaller pickup.

Who sold the most heavy-duty pickups in 2012? PickupTrucks.com investigates

Domestic manufacturers enjoyed a good year for heavy-duty pickup sales in 2012. PickupTrucks.com has taken a close look at exactly how those sales broke down between each manufacturer and between three-quarter and one-ton pickups. Ford sold some 67,786 F-250 Super Duty models last year with the Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD falling just behind at 56,359 units. The Ram 2500 HD came in third at 41,918, while the GMC Sierra 2500 HD earned itself fourth place with 27,616 deliveries. While Ford held onto the top spot in the one-ton market, Ram easily nailed down second place by selling more 3500 HD models last year than General Motors sold Silverado 3500 HD and Sierra 3500 HD trucks combined.
So, did GM manage to sell more trucks than Ford with its two brands? Very nearly. Ford sold a total of 119,338 heavy-duty pickups to GM's 111,555. Ram, meanwhile, moved a distant 77,583. But perhaps more interesting is the diesel take rate in this segment. PickupTrucks.com says 80 percent of all domestic one-ton trucks roll from the dealer lot with a turbo-diesel under the hood. Head over to the site for a closer look at the breakdown.

2021 Ram 1500 gets Reverse Steering Control to help with trailers

A month ago, Mopar Insiders got the scoop on new features coming to the 2021 Ram 1500 and now thanks to MI getting a peek at dealer guides for the coming model year, we got more details. New for 2021 will be Trailer Reverse Steering Control, which will provide easy in-cab directional control when backing a trailer and be part of next model year's Trailer-Tow Group package. The current package includes trailer-tow mirrors and a trailer brake control. Next year's Trailer-Tow Group will include trailer brake control, trailer light check, trailer reverse steering control, and trailer tire-pressure monitoring. The current group adds $400 to the price of a new Ram; the new equipment will likely cause that number to rise.  We're not sure what happened to the trailer-tow mirrors, but with the Surround-View Camera system thought to be available on the trailer mirrors in 2021 — an option cribbed from the HD lineup — there's likely a bit more package rearranging in store. The third addition mentioned last month was a bed-focused camera housed next to the third brake light, which would be another HD hand-me-down. The camera would fit in with the enhanced trailer focus, and get Ram aligned with assistance features that have become a near necessity in pickups and SUVs. At the other end of the truck, the Snow Plow Prep package makes the leap from the 2500 to the 1500. We only wish Ram had kept the Snow Chief Group name used for the 2500 trucks.    Uconnect 5 is coming as well to the Ram after launching on the 2021 Chrysler Pacifica. The new Android-based operating system provides five-times-faster processing power and three times the screen resolution, while adding 4G Wi-Fi capability, configurable buttons and custom pages, six individual profiles, better looking interactive maps from TomTom, the ability to connect two phones at a time, and Alexa integration.