Today, Ram officially announced that they will build a Ram 1500 with the VM 3.0 diesel engine; while VM is owned by Fiat, the company has long supplied Chrysler with diesel engines for vehicles sold outside of North America. The 3.0 liter V6 is a state of the art diesel which passes both American and European emissions tests, has strong power, low maintenance requirements, and good economy. This is the same diesel engine used in the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which will reduce training and inventory costs when compared with the also laudable Cummins V6 diesel (a completely different engine than the Cummins straight-six which will continue in the Ram Heavy Duty models).

Wonder what the tow rating will be?

Now if only America would embrace the diesel the way European countries do. Maybe then it wouldn't cost me almost 70 cents more than a gallon of gas to fill up. Personally I wish they would release the diesels in the SUVs as well. My wife's Durango sure could use some torque

At least 20,000 since the HD has a 30,000 lb rating....




Wannabe

Jay that would require gas to go to $ 8 a gallon while diesel stays at $ 5 a gallon. Tht's close to the ratio in Europe.

The other reason is our diesel particiulate requirements are much more stringent than the EU. hence the DPF systems which are costly and prone to issues.

Wannabe

Finally! Great news and I hope its successful.

If it has the same setup as the Jeep ecodiesel with the 8 speed tranny we could be seeing near 30 MPG

I have to agree. I was in Germany several months ago for work and was AMAZED at the power and comfort BMWs with diesels in the 2.0L and slightly larger range. The fact that they shut off while stopped is weird, but I get it. That part just takes a little getting used to.

probably not as your not going to have the frame or tranny to go along with it. Not count axles and heavier tires, the whole works.

With that said there were rumors of this and I was excited that ford might do this and chevy, but nothing yet.

I would guess they would be closer to the 3/4 ton diesel rating probably 12k. I know everyone talks well Europe does it , but if this is to work you have to make the MPG make sense. As diesel cost more.

If you can make a half ton tow 12-13k and get 21/25HWY heck yeah youd have lots of buyers. But with with DPFs and such I see something like this towing 10-11k and getting 15/18mpg and at that point I dont see the cost working out specially when you factor fuel prices, maint cost, and the fact the engine is probably going to be a 3-5k upgrade in cost.

Soldier- My answer was tongue in cheek realizing fully it takes more than just a torquey engine to up the rating. I think it is GREAT Dodge is doing this. GM had a smaller diesel they were working on than killed it. A victim of their pre-bankruptcy madness when they couldn't find their way out of a urine soaked paper bag (pains me to say that when my dad worked there for 40 years and retired in 90').

Wannabe