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Will Nissan's Cummins deal upset Ram's marketing mojo? [w/poll]

Ram has used Cummins engines in its heavy duty trucks since 1989, and it is the only pickup truck brand to use products from the Indiana-based engine maker. With the announcement that the next Nissan Titan will also use a Cummins powerplant, and a Nissan spokesman having already said "We will definitely leverage the Cummins brand name," a piece in Automotive News wonders whether the deal will affect the way Ram markets its tie-up with Cummins.
The question really is, how intense is this competition? While it is the first time that trucks from two different brands have used Cummins engines, they'll be two different engines in two different kinds of trucks; Nissan is going to put a 5.0-liter turbodiesel in a non-heavy-duty Titan, Ram only uses its 6.7-liter, inline six-cylinder turbodiesel in heavy-duty offerings. The diesel that Ram will offer in its light-duty, half-ton 1500 is a 3.0-liter V6 EcoDiesel with 240 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque - compared to about 300 hp and 550 lb-ft expected from the Titan's Cummins - and its marketing so far has focused on the fuel economy gains.
If Nissan was going to prove its commitment to the segment, it had to do something compelling. If we're talking about sales competition between Ram and Nissan, Ram has sold 201,633 trucks as of July this year, up 24.2 percent, 31,314 of those sales coming last month; Nissan has sold 10,020 Titans through the end of July, down 21.1 percent, and just 1,168 in July itself. Nissan's new truck boss - who hopped there from Ram - said that buyers have asked for a powerful turbodiesel in something other than a heavy duty pickup, and from what we've read on various comment boards, the pickup truck crowd is excited about Nissan's move.

Ford F-450 claims best-in-class towing, company abandons practice of removing items to boost payload number

The ongoing heavy-duty truck battle between Ford and Ram is showing no signs of slowing down. The Blue Oval is trying to remove at least one point of contention between the two brands by testing its 2015 F-450 Super Duty using the Society of Automotive Engineers J2807 towing standard, which Ram also uses. In the new evaluation, the F-450 is rated at a max towing capacity of 31,200 pounds. That's an identical amount as under Ford's own, previous test.
"We leave no doubt with customers that the F-450 pickup truck has best-in-class towing of 31,200 pounds - whether tested using our own internal towing standards or SAE J2807," said Raj Nair, Ford group vice president for Global Product Development, in the company's release.
At the same time, Ford is also changing how it calculates the F-450's payload. Instead of using its minimum curb weight as before, the brand is now using the truck's base curb weight. The revision lowers the pickup's rating to 5,300 pounds, compared to 5,450 pounds previously. The company said in its announcement that the reason for this is "aligning its payload rating practices with other manufacturers to make it easier for customers to compare vehicles." General Motors made a similar switch for its pickups in August.

Autoblog Minute: 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty truck reveal

Competition in the heavy duty truck segment heats up as we get our first look at the 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty lineup. Autoblog's Adam Morath reports on this edition of Autoblog Minute. With commentary from Autoblog's senior editor Greg Migliore and an interview with Doug Scott of Ford Motor Company. Update: This post has been updated to reflect that the entire Ford F-Series Super Duty lineup is new for 2017, not just the F-250 model. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] Competition in the heavy duty truck segment heats up as we get our first look at the 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty trucks. I'm Adam Morath and this is your Autoblog Minute. As Ford prepares to release its new Super Duty line to the American worker, we spoke with Doug Scott of Ford's Truck Group to find out what customers can expect from this latest super duty offering: [00:00:30] [Doug Scott Interview] For more on what the changes to Super Duty mean for the segment we go to Autoblog's Greg Migliore: [00:01:30] [Greg Migliore Interview] Will a larger cabin and increased towing capacity help these heavy duty trucks take off like the smaller F150? And, how will the other HD giants, Chevy, GMC, and Ram respond? Truck fans, be sure to sound off in the comments below. For Autoblog, I'm Adam Morath. [00:02:00] Show Logo Autoblog Minute is a short-form video news series reporting on all things automotive. Each segment offers a quick and clear picture of what's happening in the automotive industry from the perspective of Autoblog's expert editorial staff, auto executives, and industry professionals. Chevrolet Ford GMC RAM Truck Autoblog Minute Videos Original Video ford f-250 f-250 super duty