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Ram 1500 Marines-inspired Built to Serve edition wears tank-like green paint

Ram rolled out the latest addition to its military-inspired Built to Serve lineup of trucks right before Thanksgiving. Based on the hot-selling 1500, it's available in two distinct colors named Tank and Flame Red, respectively. Each branch of the U.S. armed forces is getting a variant of the truck, and the newest member of the range honors the Marine Corps. Like the three previously-unveiled 1500s, it receives a decal of the American flag and Built to Serve stickers on each quarter panel, black exterior trim pieces, body-colored fender flares, and 20-inch aluminum wheels finished in a shade called Technical Gray. Ram expects active-duty service members and veterans will scoop up most of the production run, so it added Velcro panels on the side of each front seat that let motorists display the patch of their choice, whether it's a flag, a name badge, or a unit insignia. It also added front sport seats upholstered in cloth and vinyl, all-weather floor mats, and an emblem on the dashboard, while the Marines-inspired model gets Medium Greystone accent stitching. Buyers can combine the Built to Serve appearance package with all body styles and powertrains, even if they haven't served in the armed forces. Every truck comes with the 4x4 Off-Road Group, which bundles features like all-terrain tires, an electronic-locking rear axle, hill descent control, tow hooks, and four thick skid plates. Ram will start taking orders for the latest Built to Serve 1500 in December 2020, and production is scheduled to start in early 2021 at the firm's Sterling Heights, Michigan, plant. Pricing information hasn't been published yet, but production will be limited to 1,000 trucks finished in Tank and an additional 1,000 units painted Flame Red. The fifth and final member of the range, honoring the Coast Guard, will be unveiled in early 2021.  Related Video:

Chrysler's internal documents question Ram quality as workers protest

Chrysler is reportedly having a hard time ramping up production of its 2013 Ram 1500. According to The Detroit News, only 16 of the 58 trucks built at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant during the model's first hour passed final inspection. While quality eventually improved over the course of the day, just over half of the units built on Thursday were approved for shipment. Even with workers ordered to stay late to fix their mistakes, some 1,078 units remained outside the facility with defects. The problem, according to workers at the plant, is morale.
According to the report, Chrysler recently changed the shift schedule at the plant and workers are unhappy with the new situation. The new plan has workers split into three shifts, each covering four 10-hour days. With the shifts staggered, some workers now have to work nights and on Saturdays. Some employees are so upset that they've taken to protesting, though the move isn't sanctioned by the United Auto Workers.
Meanwhile, Chrysler admits there were internal issues with the launch, but that the company was able to contain them. A spokesperson has said "plant quality indicators are getting progressively better."

Chevy, GMC and Ram dealers are worried they'll run out of new pickups

One of the unexpected side effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is a shortage of pickups at Chevrolet, GMC and Ram dealers. Supplies are running out, and the factories that build these trucks remain closed. Stores across the nation began increasing incentives in March, when the first stay-at-home orders were issued, in a bid to continue luring buyers into showrooms. They also launched online sales channels, or expanded their existing digital business. Sales nonetheless plummeted in April 2020, but in-demand vehicles, like the Ram 1500 and the Chevrolet Silverado, are still selling relatively well thanks in part to the aforementioned incentives. Pickups outsold sedans for the first time in April 2020, according to The Detroit News, by 17,000 units. The problem is that General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), and Ford temporarily closed their factories in March. "The pipeline is very dry," said Mike Maroone, the CEO of a large dealership group named Maroone USA, in an interview with Automotive News. He told the publication his Chevrolet stores are sitting on a 30-day supply of the Silverado, which is one of America's best-selling vehicles. "That is a problem for us," he concluded. Coronavirus-related lockdowns and factory closures compound problems already faced by dealerships who represent General Motors-owned brands. They entered 2020 with a thinner inventory than a year earlier due to the 40-day United Auto Workers (UAW) strike that paralyzed the company late in 2019, and the 0%, 84-month offers announced in March have sapped supply. Ram wasn't affected by a strike, but it has relied heavily on generous incentives to move trucks off lots. Ford, on the other hand, limited incentives to 2019 models. Inventory levels differ greatly from region to region. The national average for the Silverado stood at an 82-day supply in March 2020, down from 120 in March 2019. Ram stores had a 114-day supply of the 1500 (compared to 134 a year earlier), while Ford bucked that trend with a 111-day supply versus 84 in 2019. Don't panic if you're in the market for a truck; we're not facing a complete drought. Automotive News added that America's light-duty pickup inventory could fall to 400,000 units by the end of May, and drop further to 260,000 units in June. For context, there were about 700,000 light-duty trucks in stock in May and June of 2019. That's unquestionably a sharp drop, but there will still be over a quarter of a million trucks to choose from.