2014 Ram 1500 Tradesman/express on 2040-cars

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Ram to go on a Rampage with new small pickup?

When people look back at today's automotive industry, what do you think they'll remember us for? The emergence of hybrids? Ever more expensive and exotic supercars? The dawn of the self-driving car? All likely scenarios, but so is the blurring of lines between one bodystyle and another, giving rise to hardtop convertible coupes and crossovers of every shape and size. But one bodystyle the North American auto industry has stayed largely away from in the past couple of decades is a car nose and chassis with a pickup bed.
It's a bodystyle immortalized by the Chevrolet El Camino, but with few exceptions, we haven't seen too many of these automotive platypuses in recent years on our turf. Subaru tried with the Baja and the low-volume Honda Ridgeline soldiers along largely unchanged, but the genre's biggest adherents are still Down Under, where ute versions of the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon live. With a few other examples scattered to the four corners of the earth, that's really about it. But if these spy shots are anything to go by, it looks like Fiat Chrysler Automobiles could be working to bring it back.
Spied undergoing testing in Michigan, what we appear to be looking at is a heavily disguised Fiat Strada being prepared - like the Fiat Ducato-based Ram ProMaster and the smaller Doblo-based ProMaster City - for Stateside duty as a Ram product. The Strada, for those unfamiliar, is a product of Fiat Automóveis in Brazil and is based on the Palio economy car. The nameplate has been around South America since 1996 and was originally designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro (long before Volkswagen monopolized his talents), and takes a more rugged approach in the form of the Strada Adventure.

Enter here to win the 2021 Ram TRX, the fastest pickup on the market

Autoblog may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability is subject to change. No donation or payment necessary to enter or win this sweepstakes. See official rules on Omaze. For years the Ford Raptor stood alone, on top of the off-road pickup truck mountain, hardly challenged by the competition. Finally, a new challenger has emerged, the 702 horsepower Ram TRX. The problem? A price tag that will make you blush. Unless you win one from Omaze. Win a RAM 1500 TRX and $20,000 - Enter at Omaze Here’s what we said about it in our Ram TRX First Drive Review: “Looking over the spec sheet of the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX, itÂ’s hard not to think America has hit peak pickup truck. Everything about the TRX is bigger, better and badder than any truck thatÂ’s come before, including its one obvious bogey, the Ford F-150 Raptor. For starters, the Ram has a 252-horsepower and 140-pound-foot advantage on the Ford. That means the TRX is quicker and faster, and it can haul and tow marginally more. The TRX has a nicer interior and its supercharged V8 engine sounds a heck of a lot better than the RaptorÂ’s turbocharged V6. Altogether, that ought to equal a truck thatÂ’s more fun to drive." “More important than the muscular styling is what that bodywork encases, starting with a frame that Ram says shares just 25% with lesser 1500s. ItÂ’s designed to be stiff and durable enough to withstand off-road terrain at speeds of 100 mph. The TRX boasts 11.8 inches of ground clearance, and can ford water up to 32 inches deep. Bilstein Black Hawk e2 adaptive shocks with nitrogen-charged remote reservoirs continuously adjust to handle current demands, whether that means taking the edge off a bumpy road or absorbing much larger impacts, like when landing a jump. There's 13 inches of wheel travel up front and 14 inches out back, allowing for a huge amount of articulation.”  YouÂ’re probably asking yourself, what does it take to win? First of all, according to Omaze, "no donation or payment is necessary to enter or win this sweepstakes." $10 will get you 100 entries in this giveaway, while $50 will get you 1,000 entries and $100 will get you 2,000 entries. The donations themselves benefit Team Rubicon. According to Omaze, “Team Rubicon is a veteran-led disaster response organization that mobilizes veterans, first responders and civilian volunteers to help communities before, during and after disasters and humanitarian crises.

The EPA has alleged that FCA installed undisclosed emissions software in about 100k Ram and Jeep diesel models [UPDATE]

Update: The text has been updated with official information from the EPA given in a press release and a conference call. Although an initial report from Reuters said the EPA will accuse Ram and Jeep of using emissions defeat devices today, that isn't quite the case. In a press release and a conference call, the EPA stated that the notice of violation sent to FCA is for the installation of eight undisclosed auxiliary emissions control devices on 2014 to 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 models with the 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6. The violation applies to about 104,000 vehicles in total. The agency also explained that auxiliary emissions controls on vehicles are not necessarily illegal, but installing them without disclosing them to the EPA when having the vehicle certified is. Though this initial notice of violation is for installing undisclosed software, the EPA may soon also classify these emissions devices as defeat devices, as it did with the software Volkswagen used. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, there could be fines of up nearly $45,000 per vehicle involved in the notice of violation. The agency revealed that the software alters how the emissions system performs in certain situations. In controlled testing, the vehicles are compliant, but in conditions such as high speed operation, the EPA found the vehicles would produce much higher levels of NOx emissions. The EPA is continuing to investigate, and is waiting for FCA to explain why these emissions control devices are not cheating or defeat devices. In an official statement, FCA stated it is looking forward to explaining that the software does not constitute a defeat device, and has also proposed software updates to achieve compliance. During the conference call, EPA representatives also noted that the vehicles are still safe and legal to be driven, and that owners do not need to take any action yet regarding their cars. It should be noted there is no stop-sale on current models at this time. Additionally, 2017 versions of the 3.0-liter diesel FCA vehicles have not been emissions certified yet. Related Video: News Source: Reuters, Environmental Protection Agency Government/Legal RAM