2022 Ram 1500 Laramie Crew Cab 4x4 5'7" Box on 2040-cars

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Chrysler earns $1.7B in 2012, revises product plans for US

Hot on the heels of Ford's earnings announcement for the year that was, Chrysler today reported a 2012 net income of $1.7 billion, up substantially from the comparatively minuscule $183 million profit earned in 2011 when it repaid its US government loans.
Chrysler's good year ended with an excellent fourth quarter that saw net income rise 68 percent from $225 million in 2011 to $378 million. Where are all those extra earnings coming from? Market share, which Chrysler saw increase to 11.4% last year on sales of 1.65 million vehicles. In fact, the Auburn Hills, MI-based automaker out-paced the industry's market growth of 13 percent last year with sales up 21 percent for the year.
The company also revealed an updated product plan for its Chrysler Group and Fiat brands that looks all the way out to 2016. It's an updated version of the plan introduced in 2009 shortly after Fiat took control of the American automaker, and includes such new additions as an Alfa Romeo model, likely the 4C, to be introduced in the US this year, as well five more Alfa models by 2016. Likewise, Fiat will be growing by an additional seven models in the coming few years.

Ram takes out frustrations on Camry

No, not a Ram pickup truck. This is an actual ram, as in a male sheep, headbutting the hell out of a Toyota Camry that made the unfortunate decision to interrupt its battle with a rival member of the flock. Now, before you say, "How dare that Camry harm that cuddly sheep," we'd like to point out just how viciously the two males were fighting before the Toyota butted in. And after smashing the driver's side front fascia, the ram goes right back to attempting to beat down its opponent. All things considered then, we'd call this Ram: 1, Camry: 0.

Watch the video that inspired Ram's Farmer Super Bowl commercial

Chrysler may have the Super Bowl's most popular commercial for a third year in a row. Eminem and Eastwood helped it earn that distinction the last two years, and while Oprah did the voiceover for this year's Jeep ad, it's Chrysler's other spot that's in the running for Most Valuable Ad after the big game this year.
So where did the Ram brand's commercial about farmers come from? As it turns out, the ad appears to be inspired, shall we say, by a video produced by Farms.com that was uploaded to YouTube in June, 2011. Greg Mitchell of The Nation pointed out the similarities between the two in an article published this morning. The video uses the same speech given by famed radio broadcaster Paul Harvey played over a slideshow of farming images. It's the same concept as Ram's ad, though the truck brand did go out and commission its own images shot by very well-known photographers for its version.
Did Ram steal the idea? That does not appear to be the case. A message left on the Farms.com YouTube video says "Farms.com is pleased to be working with Ram Trucks and support the 'Farmer' Super Bowl commercial." When you play the video, a link even pops up to watch Ram's version.