Ram

The Australian company responsible for the right-hand drive conversion and distribution of America’s Ram pickup trucks is demonstrating astonishing growth and battling to satisfy demand in a flat market. American Special Vehicles (ASV), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sydney’s Ateco Group that contracts conversions to the Walkinshaw Group, has sold 1378 Ram trucks this year through its network of 47 dealer partners. That’s growth of more than 900 per cent.

Japanese worries about the proposed merger's effects on the 20-year old Renault and Nissan alliance may have scuppered the proposed US$35 billion ($51 billion) merger between Renault and Fiat Chrysler (FCA). Sources have told Bloomberg Japanese officials informed their French counterparts about fears the proposed Fiat Chrysler and Renault merger could harm Nissan.

According to his lawsuit, Reid Bigland, head of US sales for Fiat Chrysler (FCA) and chief of the Ram brand, says he has been cooperating with a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into the company's sales reporting practices, including allegations it had wrongfully inflated numbers.

Starting later this year, Fiat Chrysler (FCA) will begin offering cars with an online 'ecosystem' headlined by an infotainment system running Google's Android operating system, and using cloud services from Harman, part of the sprawling Samsung conglomerate. Cars equipped with the new system will have a new Android-based infotainment setup with over-the-air updates, built-in app support, satellite navigation, automatic emergency calling, and smartphone connectivity.

Sources have told The Financial Times Renault is hoping to start merger talks with Nissan within 12 months, and then work on purchasing Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). According to wire reports (via Automotive News), when Saikawa was asked about whether he knew about Renault's reported plans, he replied, "not at all".