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It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and the world is getting its first look at the 2024 Ram 1500 REV. This upcoming electric truck is another sign that the segment is changing.A herd of plug-in pickups is on the way to join the fossil-fuel classics, amid statistics showing that almost 80 percent of new-vehicle purchases are trucks and SUVs.New trucks need new truck buyers, and it turns out the demographics of today’s truck shoppers are expanding to include more women and younger people.One of the marquee Super Bowl car commercials this year is Ram’s big reveal of its upcoming all-electric 2024 Ram 1500 REV. Electric-vehicle ads have been Super Bowl standouts for the past few years, so it makes sense that an all-truck brand like Ram will use the attention of the big game to promote the first of what will be an entire lineup of electric models.Plug This InFor many car buyers in the U.S., electric trucks represent a somewhat contradictory combination. Pickups are hugely popular, but EV technology is still searching for a path to mainstream sales. Electric trucks might be the solution.Truck Sales Stayed Strong in 2022Three of the five biggest-selling vehicles in the U.S. last year were trucks: Ford F-series, Chevy Silverado, and Ram pickup. Ford never tires of telling the world that the F-150 has been the best-selling truck in America for the past million years. And a glance at the sales figures reveals just how many more trucks Ford sells than other models. In 2022, for example, Ford sold 653,957 F-series trucks, according to data from the Automotive News data center. Ford’s second-biggest-selling model last year was the Explorer, which sold 207,673 units.Chevy sold 513,354 Silverados in 2022, and the rankings follow a similar trend as at Ford. The Equinox SUV came in second place at Chevy, with 212,072 sales last year. Ram, which otherwise only sells the ProMaster and cargo vans, sold 468,344 pickups, the bulk of its 529,280 overall sales for the year.No Plugs for UsWho’s Buying All These Trucks?Aside from a few F-150 Lightning models, all of those best-selling pickup trucks sold last year were powered by fossil fuels. The growing list of new electric pickup models that are in the works from Chevy, Ram, Tesla, and others means it’s not a secret that changes are coming to this segment of the market.But another shift is happening in the demographics of the truck-buying world. CBS News notes that the number of women interested in driving a pickup truck continues to grow, and J.D. Power found at the end of 2021 that millennials bought the most pickup trucks in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The trend line shows this interest hasn’t died down in the intervening years. As CBS noted, you can’t be a best-selling vehicle if you only appeal to a limited number of people.Chevrolet Silverado EV and Silverado 1500. Car and DriverWhat’s Next?While the two segments are unfortunately lumped together, J.D. Power recently released a report that predicted that trucks and SUVs accounted for almost 80 percent of all new-vehicle retail sales in January.The rough outlines of the truck market will remain the same in 2023, and the two main facts mentioned above hint that we’re likely to see even more trucks on the road soon. New, exciting electric models and tech are coming to the pickup world—where fancier and fancier trucks have been the norm in recent years—and these will encourage people who never considered a truck before to give them a second look.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

Ram has revealed the production version of the Ram 1500 REV electric pickup.It looks similar to the gas-powered Ram, unlike the dramatic Ram electric pickup concept shown last month.The Ram 1500 REV will be shown during a Super Bowl ad tonight, and production starts next year.The production version of the Ram 1500 REV electric pickup is here, and it looks quite different from Ram’s dramatic EV concept truck first shown last month. As with the Ford F-150 Lightning, the electric Ram’s styling is much like the gas truck’s, only with futuristic headlights and taillights and unique wheels.Other than its more modern-looking front and rear ends, the 1500 REV’s shape is nearly identical to any other Ram pickup’s. This version has a crew-cab body and a short bed, although Ram hasn’t yet said if it will offer any other configurations. Underneath the similar body lies a different platform, as the REV rides on a new architecture called STLA Frame, which is purpose-built for body-on-frame EV models. Based on the conventional look of this production truck, we don’t expect it to incorporate many of the concept version’s more outlandish features, such as its third-row jump seats, but there is a frunk.RamMore on the Ram PickupRam will be showing the REV during a Super Bowl commercial tonight and is opening a website called RamREV.com for customers to reserve a spot in line. By placing a $100 refundable deposit, you join a membership program called REV Insider+. Ram also said it would release initial details about the truck as part of this rollout, so we might expect to see information about its power output, battery size, and range estimates.Production of the Ram 1500 REV won’t start until next year, so we’ll have plenty of time to learn more about the electric truck’s specs and features before it starts reaching customers in 2024. More

It’s a great time to buy a used car. No, it’s a terrible time to buy a used car. Maybe.Used-car prices started coming down from their pandemic-inspired highs in the latter half of 2022, then started climbing again in January 2023.We can’t tell you when the best time to buy is, but we can understand how lower prices pushed up demand and how that’s pushing up prices again. Where things go from here is unclear, sadly.Used-car prices are fluctuating, jumping up in January after substantial drops over the course of 2022. Used cars were hot (read: expensive) throughout the pandemic, but things seemed to have calmed down last year. It’s difficult to know what’s around the corner, but at least we can make some sense of the past.Used-Car Business Feeling a Hangover?Just 10 days ago, the New York Times wrote that the pandemic’s used-car boom, along with the associated higher prices, is “coming to an abrupt end” as the used-car business suffers a “brutal hangover.” According to the Times, “Americans, especially people on tight budgets, are buying fewer cars as interest rates rise and fears of a recession grow. And improved auto production has eased the shortage of new vehicles. As a result, sales and prices of used cars are falling and the dealers that specialize in them are hurting.”Arm Yourself with Some Knowledge December was the sixth consecutive month for used-car price drops, according to the consumer finance site Nerdwallet, which wrote about the decline in used-car prices in recent months. In fact, December was the sixth consecutive month for used-car price drops, and 2022 ended with used-car prices 8.8 percent lower than they were at the start of the year. That’s the largest annual decrease in used-car prices since June 2009, the last month of the Great Recession, Nerdwallet said.The direction of the trend changed in January, when wholesale used-vehicle prices went up 2.5 percent (1.5 percent without making seasonal price adjustments) compared to December, according to Manheim Consulting. Manheim issues a monthly Used Vehicle Value Index and regular Manheim Market Reports, and that kind of regular insight allows the group to note that the January price increases “were not typical” and ended up pushing the index value of three-year-old cars up 1.2 percent over the last four weeks. In most years, January values reported by the Manheim Market Reports “are typically little changed,” Manheim wrote.Used Cars Are Moving Faster off LotsThe daily sales conversion rate in January was also “above normal for the time of year,” at 59.4 percent. Pre-pandemic, in January 2019, the daily sales conversion rate averaged 57.7 percent. Manheim takes that as meaning “Sellers [have] more pricing power than what is typically seen for this time of year.” You can see strong customer demand in other numbers, too, with Manheim estimating that used retail sales were up 16 percent in January compared to December and up 5 percent year over year. Used cars are spending less time on dealer lots, too, with January’s overall average being just 44 days, compared to 56 in December and 60 in January 2022.So, what’s going on here? The ups and downs might have a straightforward cause. CNBC suggests that all we are seeing here is a simple game of supply-and-demand example that allows both of the reports to be true. The Times correctly notes that demand slowed in January, and that then pushed used-car prices down. These lower prices created fresh demand for used vehicles which “led to the largest increase in wholesale values since late 2021,” CNBC writes. And that opens up interesting questions about where things go next.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.More Used Car Knowledge More