2012 Ram Laramie on 2040-cars

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Ram shows off Ignition Orange and Black Sport with standard Hemi engine

If a buyer is even considering a pickup, Ram wants to make sure that it has a variant of the venerable 1500 ready. From the outdoorsy Rebel to the plush Laramie Limited, there seems to be something for even the smallest niche, but apparently that isn't the case. The truck maker adds two more versions later this year with the brash Ignition Orange Sport and subdued Black Sport, and they're limited to 1,000 units each. The Ignition Orange gets eye-grabbing paint over most of the truck, including the trim, except for a few black accents like the hood stripes. The same color gets carried inside for the seat inserts, stitching and logos, too. Alternatively, the Black Sport makes everything dark, including the exterior and 20-inch wheels. Even the interior is clad in black leather with some chrome accents providing some relief. Beyond the special trim, both trucks are based on the Ram 1500 Sport Crew Cab and add $1,595 to the price of one. They come with a 395-horsepower V8, eight-speed automatic and 3.92 gearing. Inside, there's an 8.4-inch Uconnect system with navigation and rearview camera. There's also a choice of rear- or all-wheel drive. Feel free to read more, below. Ram 1500 Offers Two New Buzz Models in Sport Trim Ram 1500 Ignition Orange Sport features unique interior colors, body-colored accents and limited edition bright orange paint, appreciated up close and at 10,000 feet Ram 1500 Black Sport takes design cues from popular Black Express package, offering customers a customized appearance including black 20" wheels and a sport hood New Ram 1500 Sport buzz models are limited production of 1,000 trucks each March 12, 2015 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - The Ram Truck brand announced today that it will add two new Ram 1500 buzz models in Sport trim - the Ram 1500 Ignition Orange Sport and the Ram 1500 Black Sport. "With a standard HEMI® V-8, the Sport model offers unique features for the customer who likes aggressive styling and great performance but still needs a truck," said Bob Hegbloom – President and CEO, Ram Truck Brand. "Adding limited edition Ignition Orange and Black Sport models will give our buyers a custom appearance on an already eye-catching truck with all the capability our customers expect." The limited-edition trucks are available in Crew Cab 4x2 and 4x4.

Should heavy-duty pickup trucks have window stickers with fuel mileage estimates?

If you were to stroll into your nearest Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Nissan, or Ram dealership, you'd find a bunch of pickup trucks. Most of those would have proper window stickers labeled with things like base prices, options prices, location of manufacture, and, crucially, fuel economy estimates. But you'd also run across a number of heavy-duty trucks with no such fuel mileage data from the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA doesn't require automakers to publish the valuable miles-per-gallon measurement for vehicles with gross weight ratings that exceed 8,500 pounds. That makes it difficult for consumers to compare behemoths powered by turbocharged diesel engines – between one another, and between smaller, gasoline-fueled trucks. Consumer Reports doesn't think it should be this way, and it's spearheading an effort (PDF link) to get the government to require manufacturers to publish fuel economy estimates. In its own testing, CR found that heavy-duty pickups powered by Ford's Power Stroke, GM's Duramax, and FCA's Cummins diesel engines (which doesn't include the Ram's EcoDiesel) get worse fuel mileage than their lighter-duty gas-powered siblings. We're not so sure HD-truck buyers are unaware of this fact – big diesels don't really come into their own until big loads are placed in their beds or attached to their trailer hitches. Under heavy workloads, the diesel trucks will almost certainly return greater efficiency than a similar gas-powered truck. What's more, HD trucks with lumbering diesels in general make the driver feel more confident while towing due to greater torque at low engine RPM than gas trucks. They also offer greater max-weight limits. Still, we agree EPA fuel mileage estimates should be offered for heavy-duty pickups. And we think the comparisons provided by Consumer Reports might be interesting to potential buyers. Click here to see the results of CR's tests, and let us know what you think using the poll below. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty: First Drive View 22 Photos News Source: Consumer Reports Government/Legal Green Read This Chevrolet Ford GMC Nissan RAM Fuel Efficiency Truck Commercial Vehicles Diesel Vehicles poll gmc sierra hd chevy silverado hd

Pickup prices rising at 2x industry average

We've said it before, but bears repeating: Pickup trucks are the financial engines of America's automakers. Good thing, then, that the segment is in rude health - in fact, Automotive News is suggesting that pickup truck sales are arguably healthier than they were pre-recession, even though the segment's volume is still significantly down from where it was before the bottom fell out of the US economy. That's because per-unit profits on full-size trucks are skyrocketing, outpacing the industry's average price increases by more than double since 2005. According to data from Edmunds, the average transaction price of a full-size pickup is now $39,915 - a heady increase over the $31,059 average price in 2005 - a gain of over 8 percent after inflation is factored in.
Just how important are trucks to automakers' bottom lines? Automotive News quotes a Morgan Stanley analyst as saying the Ford F-Series is responsible for 90 percent of the company's 2012 profits, and General Motors isn't far behind, with the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra twins chipping in about two-thirds of the automaker's earnings.
Automotive News points out that Detroit's automakers now have the money to invest in modernizing their full-size truck offerings, in part because they don't have the same overhead and legacy costs that pushed General Motors and Chrysler into bankruptcy. Certainly, the pickup segment has seen a lot of innovations as of late, including turbocharged V6s, coil-spring rear suspensions and active aero. Those improvements in important areas like fuel economy and ride comfort have given existing pickup buyers new reasons to upgrade. In addition, automakers are piling on the tech and luxury goodies, creating more and more high-content, high-profit models like the Ford F-150 King Ranch, Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn and Chevrolet Silverado High Country (shown).