2014 Ram 1500 Sport on 2040-cars

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Fiat Chrysler will invest up to $1.5 billion to build EVs in Windsor

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will invest between $1.35 billion and $1.5 billion in its Windsor assembly plant in Canada to build electric vehicles as part of a tentative deal with Canadian autoworkers, Unifor National President Jerry Dias said on Thursday. The auto union said FCA would invest in a state-of-the-art vehicle platform that will enable the assembly of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles, with at least one new model in 2025. The announcement comes less than a month after Unifor said Ford would invest $1.46 billion in its Oakville and Windsor plants. "Not only is Fiat-Chrysler maintaining the current portfolio but they will be investing three derivatives to enhance the current portfolio," Dias said. Unifor also said it expects to extend the life of the Chrysler 300, a rear-wheel-drive luxury car and introduce multiple derivatives of the Dodge Charger and Challenger. The union said as many as 2,000 jobs would be added in 2024 at the Windsor plant. Market forecasting firm LMC Automotive on Thursday said it would take until 2024 for U.S. vehicle sales to recover from the coronavirus downturn and get close to the 17 million vehicles sold in 2019. Ratification meetings for the FCA deal will happen over the weekend, and members will vote on whether to accept the agreement on Sunday. The union is expected to begin negotiations with General Motors's Canadian unit next week. Related Video: Green Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Plants/Manufacturing UAW/Unions Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep RAM Coupe Electric Sedan windsor

2019 Ram 1500 pickup shows its full face in spy photos

We're only a couple of weeks away from the 2019 Ram 1500 full-size pickup truck's public reveal at the Detroit Auto Show, but we're still getting little sneak peeks of the new Ram. In these spy photos, we get the last piece of the truck's front fascia puzzle, the badge. (UPDATE, January 2018: Here are the story and photos from the 2019 Ram's full reveal at the Detroit Auto Show.) As expected, the Ram logo fits in a little space between the split chrome bars in the middle of the grille. We're still not sure if this horizontal bar grille will be the only version or if there will be an assortment as there is on the current model. This iteration is the only version we've seen so far. These shots also show how this grille integrates nicely with the headlights. The turn signal LEDs line up with the gap in the chrome bar, the lower portion of the bar lines up with the lower running lights, and the upper portion lines up with the main headlight element. The rest of the truck will be fully revealed at the Detroit Auto Show. We know it will feature a 5.7-liter V8, which will probably be accompanied by at least a gasoline V6 if not a new version of the EcoDiesel V6, too. It may also be shown with the previously spied split tailgate. For additional peeks at the pickup, check out these previous spy shots, as well as our renderings. Related Video:

Autoblog Podcast #339

Farewell, Zach Bowman; Pikes Peak 2013; Datsun; 2014 Ram lineup
Episode #339 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and it's the last rodeo for Zach Bowman before he departs for other pastures. The crew this week consists of Dan Roth, Zach Bowman and Jeff Ross, who talk about the astounding records set at this year's Pike's Peak hill climb, the return of the Datsun brand name and the recently-announced 2014 Ram truck lineup. Of course, we start with the garage and end with your questions and comments. For those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. You can follow along after the jump with our Q&A. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #339: