It’s an exciting time of year, as we prepare for the 2017 Gold Hitch awards pickup truck towing and off-road testing. Which truck will be the best towing or off-road pickup truck in America? These are important questions, and we are here to torture-test the trucks and get to the bottom of it.
We are going bigger than ever this year, and there are five awards up for grabs. We are getting all new or updated trucks in each category together at the same time. This provides the benefit of testing all competitors under the same conditions and eliminating any many variables as possible.
We are starting with 2017 half-ton trucks. The 2017 Nissan Titan 1500 crew cab 4×4 Platinum Reserve arrived first at our offices. We are dialing in the 20-foot CargoMate trailer weight, tongue weight, tire pressures and the weight distribution hitch.
The award categories are:
2017 Best Towing Half-Ton truck
2017 Best Towing Mid-size truck
2017 Best Towing HD truck
2017 Best Off-road truck
2017 TFLtruck Gold Hitch truck of the year
The Ike Gauntlet extreme towing test is a major part of the Gold Hitch towing awards, but we will also be doing acceleration and MPG tests to get as much data as possible.
While we are getting set up for towing, check out this 2017 Titan PRO-4X on the difficult Cliffhanger 2.0 trail.
Volkswagen wrote the script for the current FCA situation as it relates to this week’s recent EPA Diesel Cheating allegations?
As you may know recently the EPA accused FCA, the parent company of Jeep and Ram, of cheating on diesel emissions in just over 100,ooo 2014-2016 model year EcoDiesel equipped Grand Cherokees and Ram 1500 half ton trucks.
According to Reuters, “The EPA and California Air Resources Board told Fiat Chrysler it believes its undeclared auxiliary emissions control software allowed vehicles to generate excess pollution in violation of the law and each issued notices of violation. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating, Fiat Chrysler said Thursday. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement he is “deeply troubled” by the EPA findings and “will investigate the claims against Fiat Chrysler and stands ready to work with our state and federal partners.”
This is a very similar accusation to the one that eventually forced Volkswagens CEO Martin Winterkorn to resign as the head of VW. Keep in mind that VW projects that “dieselgate” (as the scandal has come to be known) will cost the company about $20 billion dollars.
It is important to note here that unlike VW, FCA is vigorously denying the accusations. Marchionne has said that regulators have a “belligerent” view of automakers. “We don’t belong to a class of criminals,” he has added. “We’re not trying to break the bloody law.”
In the court of public opinion this may not matter. Car and truck sales are often driven by the buyers perception of the vehicle they are purchasing. Why do you suppose that Subaru sells “love” and “safety” instead cars and crossovers?
Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel
This week, in a very odd turn of events, FCA held no press conferences during the 2017 North American International Auto Show’a press days. The company, at least as long as we’ve been going, has always used this premier North American auto show to debut some of their most significant new models. The company and their executives were oddly quiet this week in Detroit during the press days of the show. Could it be that the company and the EPA had worked out a deal to announce the allegations right after the show’s press days when the world’s press had left, literarily left, the building?
At this point, this is just speculation on our part. What isn’t speculation is that yesterday FCA shares plummeted almost 20%, as the company faces $4.6 billion dollars of EPA fines. Combined with the class action lawsuit pending against FCA, this could be why the company was so oddly quiet during the show this week?
How long can FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne survive with both government regulators and legal sharks circling the FCA ship. Let’s face it, the FCA ship has slowly been taking on water since Marchionne took the helm? All you have to do is look at the failed Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200 to see were the water is pouring into the ship.
If we follow the script written by VW’s Dieselgate – the answer is not very long. In the case of VW, numerous high ranking company executives resigned, or were forced to resign, over the last several years including CEO Martin Winterkorn and the head of VW for North America.
Time will tell how Marchionne and FCA will weather this storm. We suspect that if in the coming weeks and months the company sales and stock value declines, it’s just a matter of time before we see a sequel to the VW dieselgate movie that’s been playing for the last two years.
BTW: Back in 2014 Nathan and I went on the press launch of the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel pickup truck. This was before the VW Dieselgate scandal but in case your are curious here’s our review of the truck:
A report from Carbuzz states that Volkswagen is seriously considering a pickup truck version of the 2018 VW Atlas three-row crossover for the U.S. market. VW has not had a pickup truck entry in the United States for decades. The company says that importing a VW Amarok from overseas is completely out of the question. On the other hand, the all-new 2018 VW Atlas crossover will be built at VW’s Chattanooga, Tennessee plant. US-built pickup trucks can avoid the import “chicken” tax, and this can surely fast-track a pickup variant for the American market.
Dr. Matthias Erb, chief engineering officer for Volkswagen of North America told Carbuzz that a body-on-frame pickup truck is also under consideration, but that market is “protected” and controlled by Ford, GM, and Ram. In other words, it is very difficult to gain market share in the half-ton / body-on-frame pickup segment. A unibody-based truck, similar to the Honda Ridgeline, may have a better chance of success in the midsize pickup segment.
To be clear, Volkswagen has not made the decision to develop and sell an Atlas-based pickup truck in the U.S. This report simply states that the company is considering this as an option.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has accused Fiat Chrysler Automobile (FCA) of violating emission standards by cheating. The allegation states that FCA used software in certain diesel vehicles to fool emission testing. The investigation involves more than 100,000 vehicles, including the 2014-2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee and the 2014-2016 Ram 1500 with the 3.0L EcoDiesel V6 engine.
EPA representative said that FCA used engine control software that allowed excess nitrogen oxides emissions under certain driving conditions, such as climbing grade and/or towing heavy loads.
Here’s FCA’s response: “FCA US has spent months providing voluminous information in response to requests from EPA and other governmental authorities and has sought to explain its emissions control technology to EPA representatives. FCA US has proposed a number of actions to address EPA’s concerns, including developing extensive software changes to our emissions control strategies that could be implemented in these vehicles immediately to further improve emissions performance.
FCA US looks forward to the opportunity to meet with the EPA’s enforcement division and representatives of the new administration to demonstrate that FCA US’s emissions control strategies are properly justified and thus are not “defeat devices” under applicable regulations and to resolve this matter expeditiously.”
We will be keeping an eye on this story as it evolves.
Here is our test of the 2015 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel on the Ike Gauntlet extreme towing test.
Full-size commercial vans are a big part of the transportation industry. They take care of package deliveries, support construction, plumbers, electricians, used as people shuttles, and much more. 2016 was a very good year for full-size vans. The segment overall registered a 15.3% improvement over 2015. The surge in sales was led by the Ford Transit and Ram ProMaster. The Ford has a huge lead over the competition, but the Ram was the most improved. The ProMaster sold 45.4% more vans in 2016 than in 2015, and it now sits firmly in fourth place.
*Mercedes-Benz Sprinter sales numbers are now reported in combination with the Mercedes-Benz Metris van.
Here is a look at 2017 Ford Transit customization options.
The picture is different when talking about the small commercial vans. The segment shrunk by a significant -8.9%. Ford Transit Connect and the Chevy City Express contributed the most to the decline.
Small Commercial Van – December 2016 Sales
Dec 2016 #
Dec ’16 / ’15 %
YTD 2016 #
YTD ’16 / ’15 %
Ford Transit Connect
4,493
-14.9%
43,232
-17.3%
Nissan NV200
1,538
-13.6%
18,523
7.0%
Ram ProMaster City
1,347
-55.7%
15,972
44.5%
Chevrolet City Express
729
-33.0
7,019
-31.7%
Total:
84,767
-8.9%
Here is a small commercial van first drive comparison review.
Ford set up a full-scale Raptor-palooza event in Utah called the 'Raptor Rally' to celebrate its full lineup of off-road juggernauts, as well as their owners. Here's what the experience was like!
