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2010 Dodge Ram Heavy-Duty

The Dodge Ram brand continues to refine the boldest, most powerful and capable pickup truck on the planet with the introduction of the new 2010 Dodge Ram Heavy Duty lineup, offering first-time innovations and features, along with new standards of strength, utility and driveability.

“This is the continuation of the reinvention of our Dodge Ram lineup,” said Fred Diaz, President and Chief Executive Officer–Dodge Ram Brand, Chrysler Group LLC. “During the past 5 years, Dodge has gained market share in the heavy-duty pickup segment, and to stay on that track, Dodge Ram keeps innovating. Our new 2010 Dodge Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups will continue to build on our momentum.”

First and foremost, the new 2010 Dodge Ram is about capability. In fact, its many features—including powertrain, towing and payload capacities, driving dynamics, premium amenities and styling—truly make it the ultimate heavy-duty pickup truck.

“Our new 2010 Dodge Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups continue to build on Dodge Ram’s leadership in the heavy-duty pickup segment,” said Scott Kunselman, Senior Vice President—Engineering, Chrysler Group LLC. “Our Ram Heavy Duty pickups reinforce Dodge Ram’s bold and powerful reputation and provide improved capability in critical areas of the segment.”

The new 2010 Dodge Ram Heavy Duty 2500 and 3500 pickups incorporate some of the design cues from the Dodge Ram 1500. The Dodge Ram Heavy Duty pickup’s larger grille incorporates a taller hood that includes louvers on each side. Access to the front winch (on Power Wagon models) and tow hooks led to a unique front-bumper design. The new dual-rear-wheel fenders (3500 dually only) are now integrated into the box stamping and offer a smooth aerodynamic appearance.

The Dodge Ram Heavy Duty will be available in U.S. dealerships in regular, Crew Cab and Mega Cab versions in five trim levels—ST, SLT, TRX, Laramie and Power Wagon—in the first quarter of 2010.

Click here to find the right Dodge for you.

Family-friendly Off-road 2010 Jeep Wrangler

While capable of handling serious off-roading duties with a Mopar 2-inch Lift Kit (MSRP: $1,510) and 33-inch tires, the Deep Water Blue 2010 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited four-door is built with the family in mind. Powered by the same 3.8-liter V-6 engine that generates 202 horsepower and 237 lb.-ft. of torque and is mated to a four-speed automatic transmission, the following accessories from Mopar outfit the 5-passenger ultimate off-road SUV in style.
The American Expedition Vehicles’ (AEV) Front Bumper System (MSRP: $1,620) is the only stamped-steel off-road bumper in the industry. Included with the AEV Front Bumper System are a Skid Plate and Winch Mount that allow the Warn Winch Model 9.5XP (MSRP: $1,399) to be perfectly integrated, eliminating airflow blockage to the engine compartment.
Off-road bumpers feature integrated fog lights to improve visibility and a stylish Grille Guard up front, along with a rear bumper that clears all hitch receivers and is equipped with tow eyes. MSRP: Front $531; Rear $558
Differential Cover Skid Plates protect factory differential covers and vital drive-line gears from on- and off-road hazards. MSRP: $79
Black Door-Entry Guards, featuring the Jeep brand logo, protect interior sills with a tough surface. MSRP: $40/set
Mopar-exclusive, two-tone Katzkin Leather seating with embroidered Jeep logo includes a heated-seat upgrade with three settings for optimal temperature control in both the front and rear. MSRP: Seating $774; Heated Seat Kit $291
Heavy-duty Grab Handles strap directly to the overhead Sport Bar and feature easy-to-hold rubber grips and durable webbing. MSRP: $33
Mopar Slush Mats are custom designed with a unique tire-tread pattern and mud graphics that prevent water, snow and mud from damaging carpeted surfaces. MSRP: $76
The KICKER 10-inch subwoofer with a 200-watt amplifier, offers a dynamic improvement in sound quality and is uniquely integrated into the vehicle. MSRP: $630

Vanity Plates

A vanity plate or personalized plate (U.S.), prestige plate, private number plate, or personalised registration (UK) or custom plate or personalised plate (Australia and New Zealand) is a special type of vehicle registration plate on an automobile or other vehicle. The owner of the vehicle will have paid extra money to have his or her own choice of numbers or letters, usually forming a recognisable phrase, slogan, or initialism on their plate. Sales of vanity plates are often a significant source of revenue for North American provincial and state licensing agencies. In some jurisdictions, such as the Canadian province of British Columbia, vanity plates have a different color scheme and design.

In 2007, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) and Stefan Lonce, author of License to Roam: Vanity License Plates and the Stories They Tell, conducted North America's first state by state and province by province survey of vanity plates, revealing that there are 9.7 million vehicles "vanitized" with personalized vanity license plates.
The survey ranked jurisdictions by "vanity plate penetration rate", which is the percentage of registered motor vehicles that are vanitized.  Virginia has the highest U.S. vanity plate penetration rate (16.19%), followed by New Hampshire (13.99%), Illinois (13.41%), Nevada (12.73%), Montana (9.8%), Maine (9.79%), Connecticut (8.14%), New Jersey (6.88%), North Dakota (6.51%) and Vermont (6.11%). Texas had the lowest vanity plate penetration rate (.56%).

According to the Federal Highway Administration, in 2005 there were 242,991,747 privately owned and commercial registered automobiles, trucks, and motorcycles in the U.S., which means that 3.83% of eligible U.S. vehicles are vanitized.

Massachusetts vanity plate on a parked motorcycle in Boston. This licence plate would be considered inappropriate in many jurisdictions, due to the presence of an obscene word.
The survey also found that vanity plates are issued by every state and the District of Columbia, and every province, except for Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.
In some states and provinces, optional plates can also be vanity plates and are a choice of motorists who want a more distinctive personalised plate. However, the maximum number of characters on an optional plate may be lower than on a standard-issue plate. For example, the U.S. state of Virginia allows up to 7.5 characters (a space or hyphen is counted as 0.5 character) on a standard-issue plate, but only up to 6 characters on many of its optional plates.

In some states, a motorist may check the availability of a desired combination online.

All U.S. states and Canadian provinces that issue vanity plates have a "blue list" of vanity plates that contains banned words, phrases, or letter/number combinations. The U.S. state of Florida, for example, has banned such plates as "PIMPALA", while the state of New York bans any plates with the letters "FDNY", "NYPD", or "GOD", among others. Often the ban is to eliminate confusion with plates used on governmental vehicles or plates used on other classes of vehicles. However, a licensing authority's discretion to deny or revoke "offensive" vanity plates is finite. For example, some U.S. motorists have successfully sued their state governments on that issue under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The "blue list" is not definitive; in general, the agent processing an application for a vanity plate can reject a plate if it is deemed offensive, even if the phrase does not match a banned word exactly. State DMVs have received complaints about offensive vanity plates. In this case, the DMV can revoke a plate if it is deemed offensive, even if it were previously approved.