Commercial Trucks auto news

Report: Why haven't you seen many new Chevy Caprice police cars? GM delays.

The sun has long since set on the Ford Crown Victoria and the big sedan's Police Interceptor variants, but many parts of the country still haven't seen the next-generation of pursuit vehicles take to the street. In the case of the Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle, that's because General Motors has hit a delay in providing the Holden-based sedans. According to the DuPont Registry, the delay is two-fold. Shipping from Australia is taking longer than expected, and Chevrolet dealers aren't outfitting the vehicles quickly enough to satiate demand.

The report quotes Deputy Chief Jeff Undestad of the Largo Police Department in Largo, Florida as saying his office waited more than eight months for GM to deliver their Caprice Patrol Vehicles to the dealer. Undestad should consider himself lucky. A neighboring department waited 10 months for its new patrol cars. Chrysler, meanwhile, usually takes two to three months to deliver its police-duty Dodge Charger models.

GM, meanwhile, says that the company is working to address the shipping issues. The company now has a pool of Caprice Patrol Vehicles at port, which should help trim the wait time.

Watch an SVT Raptor be built on Ultimate Factories this weekend [w/video]

There's something inexplicably mesmerizing about watching a factory in action. Seeing the innumerable complex mechanisms mesh in perfect harmony to create the products we know and love is part of what makes shows like National Geographic's Ultimate Factories so interesting. Now the program is headed to Dearborn for a look at how the Ford F-150 Ecoboost and F-150 SVT Raptor come together on the line in crystal-clear HD video. The show will also spend time with both trucks out on the company's proving grounds, which means there's a good chance we'll see the Raptor bashing over various obstacles.

Consider us excited. Last year, the Ford plant in Dearborn produced 344,446 vehicles, making it the third most productive plant in North America behind the Nissan facility in Aguascalientes, Mexico and the Volkswagen plant in Puebla, Mexico.

The show will air on Saturday, February 4 at 8 p.m. Eastern on the National Geographic Channel, but you can get a glimpse of what to expect in the video after the jump.

Continue reading Watch an SVT Raptor be built on Ultimate Factories this weekend [w/video]

Official: Mercedes-Benz gets sketchy with Citan urban delivery van

Though the Ford Transit Connect may be a niche player in the North American market, the small van market is big business in Europe. According to Mercedes-Benz, it accounts for some 700,000 units annually, and that's a pie of which Daimler wouldn't mind getting a bigger slice. And so it has announced its new Citan.

Taking its name from a combination of City and Titan, the Citan will slot in below the Vario, Sprinter and Vito in order to meet the needs of workers who need to get around crowded city streets and take their gear with them. Mercedes plans to offer it in a broad range of configurations, lengths and engine options once it hits the market in the fall.

The concept was unveiled at a logistics symposium held at the Mercedes-Benz Design Center in Sindelfingen, and will be presented for the first time in public next September at the IAA Commercial Vehicle Show. In the meantime, you can check out the details in the press release after the jump and the renderings in our high-res image gallery below.

Continue reading Mercedes-Benz gets sketchy with Citan urban delivery van

Video: Mercedes-Benz Actros semi fitted for taxi duty, picks up humorous fares

The new-generation 2012 Actros big rig has already won Truck of the Year - for the fourth time - and Mercedes-Benz figured it would have some letting other truck people know about its semi. It kitted an Actros out in the eggshell hue and black-and-yellow sign that's standard-issue German taxi livery, then sent it to pick up passengers.

The hook? Some of these passengers were waiting outside competing truck companies like MAN and Volvo, and were a little surprised at the arrival of their seven-ton chariot. Follow the jump to see it in action.

Continue reading Mercedes-Benz Actros semi fitted for taxi duty, picks up humorous fares

Report: Chinese carmaker blatantly copies Ford F-150

The Ford F-150 has just picked up a doppelganger in China. According to CarNewsChina, Jianghuai Auto Corporation has just unveiled its new 4R3 pickup, and sure enough, the vehicle looks to be a near carbon copy of America's best-selling truck. JAC reportedly wants to provide buyers in China, Africa and South America with a larger, inexpensive work vehicle. While the appearances of the Ford F-Series and 4R3 visuals differ ever so slightly, the similarities far outweigh the incongruities. According to CNC, JAC is a fairly small automaker in the People's Republic that specializes in rebodied Hyundai cars, SUVs and pickups.

Word has it the 4R3 will be powered by a 2.8-liter diesel four-cylinder engine generating just 108 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque. There's no word on cost at this point. The JAC 4R3 is set to debut at the Beijing Motor Show in April, though there's no telling how long the vehicle will be on the market before the company gets a call from the lawyers in Dearborn. Head over to CarNewsChina.com for a better look at the F-150 twin.

Video: Ontario seizes pair of taxi cabs for street racing

Two taxi drivers in Toronto recently found themselves on the wrong side of the law after officers stopped the duo for illegal "stunt driving." The drivers had their Chevrolet Impala taxis impounded and their licenses revoked for seven days after officers busted the two street racing early on the evening of January 25. The Toronto police haven't released any details about what spurred the two to show down on Younge Street, Canada's longest, or the drivers' ages. In addition, their employers are keeping their mouths shut about whether or not the duo will continue to have jobs after their mandatory license suspension lifts in a week.

According to our neighbors to the north, Younge Street once had a bustling street racing scene. Regardless of whether these two were settling an old score or just horsing around, running light to light near the crowded Dundas Square area is a recipe for disaster. Hit the jump to check out a video of the news report for yourself.

Continue reading Ontario seizes pair of taxi cabs for street racing

Video: Ontario siezes pair of taxi cabs for street racing

Two taxi drivers in Toronto recently found themselves on the wrong side of the law after officers stopped the duo for illegal "stunt driving." The drivers had their Chevrolet Impala taxis impounded and their licenses revoked for seven days after officers busted the two street racing early on the evening of January 25. The Toronto police haven't released any details about what spurred the two to show down on Younge Street, the city's longest, or the drivers' ages. In addition, their employers are keeping their mouths shut about whether or not the duo will continue to have jobs after their mandatory license suspension lifts in a week.

According to our neighbors to the north, Younge Street once had a bustling street racing scene. Regardless of whether these two were settling an old score or just horsing around, running light to light near the crowded Dundas Square area is a recipe for disaster. Hit the jump to check out a video of the news report for yourself.

Continue reading Ontario siezes pair of taxi cabs for street racing

Official: Ram piles on the trimmings with new Laramie Limited for Chicago

Ram is set to introduce a new top-of-the-line pickup at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show next month. The Ram Laramie Limited treats buyers to all the niceties we've come to expect from the so-called "ultrapremium" truck segment. Leather seats with contrasting piping, piano-black trim, LED ambient lighting and unique gauges are all part of the package, as are deep berber carpet floor mats. Look for the Ram Laramie Limited to bow with navigation, remote start, a backup camera, power adjustable pedals, along with heated steering wheel and seats. Even rear passengers will stay toasty thanks to seat heaters of their very own.

Chrysler says the Ram Laramie Limited is a more understated alternative to the brash Laramie Longhorn. As such, the newest line addition comes packing somewhat more conservative exterior badges. That means the usual Hemi, Cummins and Ram hardware has been scrapped. Ram hasn't completely turned its back on bling, however. The new Laramie Limited rides on 20-inch forged aluminum wheels. The vehicle will be available in 1500, 2500 HD and 3500 HD configurations when in launches in the second quarter of 2012. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Continue reading Ram piles on the trimmings with new Laramie Limited for Chicago

Video: Missouri rolls out mother of all snow removal equipment, the TowPlow

If you happen to call the East Coast home, there's a good chance you recently woke up to plenty of winter weather. Given that we're facing down a few long months of snow and ice ahead, we thought we'd take the time to explore one of the more interesting innovations in snow removal.

Behold the TowPlow: a steerable trailer that allows one truck to clear up to two and a half lanes of roadway in a single pass. The machinery effectively doubles the efficiency of a truck and driver, but it comes with a heady price tag. The TowPlow will set your local department of transportation back around $100,000 a pop.

The TowPlow can also be fitted to disperse sand, salt or liquid calcium chloride, which makes it a triple threat when it comes to keeping roadways free of the slippery stuff. The machine was pioneered in Missouri, but states like Pennsylvania have also taken to using the TowPlow when the worst winter weather hits. Click past the jump for a few videos of the mega plow in action.

Continue reading Missouri rolls out mother of all snow removal equipment, the TowPlow

Report: Marchionne: "Better than 50% chance" next Ram Dakota going unibody, diesel Durango coming

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has big plans for the Ram Dakota. Inside Line spoke with Marchionne at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, and the besweatered executive said there is a good chance the next-generation Dakota will likely ride on a unibody chassis. That would mark a serious departure from the vehicle's past, as well as the rest of the models in the compact pickup segment (save the at-the-margins Honda Ridgeline), but ditching the frame could give the vehicle a fuel-efficiency edge. If that wasn't a large enough bombshell for you, Marchionne also made mention of the kind of powertrain we can expect to see from the new Dakota.

According to the executive, it only makes sense for the next-generation Ram Dakota to come equipped with a diesel engine. With the Jeep Grand Cherokee set to receive an oil-burning powerplant of its own, spreading the cost of engine development across multiple models only makes sense. We like the sound of a small, lightweight, diesel-powered pickup.

Meanwhile, Ward's Auto reports the Dodge Durango may receive a diesel engine of its own. Marchionne reportedly stressed that Fiat knows diesel technology, and that since the Grand Cherokee is being engineered for a diesel engine in European markets, it wouldn't seem to be that much of a stretch to translate the work into the Durango.