2018 Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn on 2040-cars

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Ram extends Black Package to Heavy Duty trucks

If you liked the Black Express package Ram offers on its 1500 light-duty pickup but need the added capability of a Heavy Duty model, we've got good news for you.
This week at the Atlanta International Auto Show, the Ram truck brand is rolling out the Black package for the Ram HD 2500 and 3500 SRW. It features a sinister-looking exterior with 20-inch alloys, fog lamps, grille, front and rear bumpers and badges all blacked out. All the body-side badging has also been removed, unless you go for Cummins power, in which case you still get a chrome diesel badge on the side.
In correspondence with Autoblog, Ram spokesman Nick Cappa explained that the popularity of the Black edition light-duty truck was the impetus for the Heavy Duty edition you see here. "Ram has a reputation for going further on design and custom-looks from the factory," explained Cappa, pointing towards the Express, Sport and Longhorn editions. "This type of forward design-thinking led us to extend the aggressive appearance to the HD trucks, which in the past has been a bit more subtle."

2019 Ram 1500: Everything we know

We're not too far away from the sheet being pulled off the 2019 Ram 1500. But over and over, we've had spy shots come in revealing much of the truck before hand. The latest ones have given us a very clear look at the truck's new grille, which boldly does away with the signature crosshair grille. The main iteration we've seen is the one above with the "RAM" logo in the center flanked by split chrome bars. Chrome is used extensively elsewhere, too. The traditional Ram logo has also probably been binned, at least on the exterior, in favor of the broad Ram script currently seen on the Ram Rebel, Laramie Longhorn and Limited trims. Indeed, it seems like a change that the brand has subtly been trying to get its customers ready for, as a quick trip to the company website will show a greater reliance on those trim levels to visually represent each Ram model (including the heavy-duty 2500 and 3500). View 3 Photos Now, there will likely continue to be multiple grille options available as there is today to at least differentiate luxury and off-road models. In the renderings above, we show a version of the grille without those chrome bars. The rest of the truck in the rendering is based on what we saw when some gusty weather unofficially revealed the Ram 1500 to a spy photographer, as seen in the gallery below. View 18 Photos As for everything else we know about the 2019 Ram 1500 ... The Interior View 8 Photos We got pretty good shots of the new Ram interior a few weeks ago. There will be a huge, vertically oriented touchscreen available, possibly with updated UConnect interface software, flanked by hard buttons for the climate control system. A volume knob and redundant multi-purpose control knob will remain, as will the rotary transmission selector. New toggle switches below will be dedicated to various vehicle controls, and we would assume would remain in place throughout the trim level range. Smaller touchscreens will almost certainly be found on lower trims with a traditional array of climate controls between them and the toggles. It'll be steel View 5 Photos An intrepid magnet-wielding spy photographer back in August examined a 2019 Ram test mule's body panels and discovered the majority of them are steel. The hood and tailgate are aluminum, however. There will be a split tailgate option View 18 Photos Speaking of that tailgate, spy photos have shown that it will be available with a split, barn-door-style tailgate option.

AEV Ram Concept is an aftermarket Power Wagon

American Expedition Vehicles showed off its simply named Ram Concept at this year's SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Starting with a 2014 Ram 2500 Crew Cab and a 6.7-liter Cummins turbodiesel, the Michigan-based team at AEV, which has made a name for itself building ultra-capable Jeeps, promises that this Ram is a "complete vehicle package."
As part of that "complete vehicle package," the AEV Ram has been lifted three inches in front and two in the back, in order to give it a level ride. The suspension tweaks don't end there, though, as the geometry has been changed and custom shocks fitted, while AEV modified the truck's steering to make it more precise.
It rides on massive BF Goodrich rubber and 17-inch AEV wheels. The front bumper is from stamped steel and can accommodate a winch and auxiliary lights, as needed. Other body mods include flared fenders that can handle the larger rubber.