Dodge Ram Mega Cab Cummins Diesel 6 Speed Manual Custom New Lift Wheels Tires on 2040-cars

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Some Ram truck buyer is about to get the 3 millionth Cummins diesel engine

Dodge made a Cummins-built turbodiesel engine available in one of its trucks for the first time during the 1989 model year. Over three decades and a name change later, the company announced it ordered the 3 millionth engine from Cummins, and it's about to drop it in a truck. The 3 millionth engine is patiently waiting on a pallet until it's needed on the assembly line. Ram noted the oil-burning six will be installed in a 2019 3500 Longhorn Crew Cab Dually, a model built for both towing and cruising. While the firm knows who ordered the truck, it chose not to release the owner's name to maintain an element of surprise. The dealership that sold it is planning to host a celebration, so the buyer will only find out that he or she purchased a piece of Ram and Cummins history when arriving to pick it up. The Longhorn isn't the kind of truck you're likely to see on a construction site. Priced in the vicinity of $60,000, it's an upmarket variant of Ram's tow-it-all Heavy Duty pickup decked out with leather upholstery, an eight-way power-adjustable driver's seat, two rows of heated seats, and an 8.4-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system. The high-output Cummins 6.7-liter six adds $11,795 to its base price, meaning the truck receiving the 3 millionth engine costs around $75,000.  Cummins has made several different engines for Dodge- and Ram-branded trucks since 1988. It crossed the 200-horsepower mark for the first time in 1996, and built its first engine with over 500 pound-feet of torque in 2001. The current Cummins, the variant going into the milestone truck, is a mighty, 6.7-liter straight-six that serves 400 horsepower and 1,000 pound-feet of torque.  

Ram helps power Chrysler to 11% gain in May

Increasing consumer demand for Ram pickup trucks and big SUVs has helped to boost May sales for Chrysler. Ram sales were up a total of 24 percent year-over-year for the month of May. In addition, Dodge sales increased by 23 percent in May, with the standout Durango clocking a 24-percent year-over-year improvement (with an updated 2014 model in the wings, incentives are thick on the ground for 2013 inventory). Fiat and Jeep were up only a modest one percent, however, and Chrysler brand sales were down by two percent against last year's figures.
Chrysler is quite pleased overall with brand performance, saying that this May marks the company's strongest in the past six years. It was also the 38th consecutive month showing year-over-year sales gains.
Eight of the automaker's vehicles set sales records for May, as well: Jeep Wrangler and Compass, Dodge Avenger and Challenger, Fiat 500, Chrysler 200 and Ram pickups. Scroll down to read more detail in Chrysler's press release.

Jeep Wrangler 4xe's hybrid powertrain: Could it be headed to other FCA products?

On its own, the 2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid is a big deal for the brand and the model line. It's the most powerful and most efficient Wrangler by significant margins, and it doesn't give up the off-road capability that makes the Wrangler so special. But another great thing about this hybrid powertrain is its potential to be transplanted into other FCA vehicles. Just to recap, the layout of the Wrangler's hybrid powertrain, front to back, is as follows: engine, clutch, electric motor, clutch, transmission. The engine is the same 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that's a standalone engine for the Wrangler. The transmission and electric motor are sort of one unit, with the motor and clutch replacing the torque converter of the transmission. And the transmission itself is the ubiquitous eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox. Its transmission code name is 8HP75PH. The ZF eight-speed is available in every FCA product with a longitudinally-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, with variations in the amount of power and torque it can handle. Not only that, but the Ram 1500 and 2500 and the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator all have powertrains that utilize the non-hybrid version of the 8HP75 transmission specifically. Even the gear ratios for that transmission as well as the 8HP70 used in the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango, Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 are nearly identical to those in the 8HP75PH. And a Fiat-Chrysler representative confirmed that the transmission portion of the hybrid drivetrain is basically carry-over from the regular 8HP75. So a transplant could be a relatively simple process. As for which of these models would be the most likely to receive the hybrid powertrain first, the Jeep Gladiator and Ram 1500 would seem like good bets, since they likely have the most similar transmissions, and the Gladiator in particular because of its closely-related underpinnings to the Wrangler. Both are also highly profitable trucks that sell well and could justify the development costs of adapting another powertrain. And in the case of the Ram, there's the impending F-150 hybrid to think about. Although Ram isn't going after a fully electric model, a PHEV could be a nice middle ground. A potential limiting factor would be whether the hybrid powertrain would be sufficiently robust to handle heavy payload and towing demands, particularly over longer periods.