When our grandchildren ask about the Great Pickup Wars of 2019, we will have no shortage of stories with which to regale them. OEMs are assaulting each other on all fronts, from half-ton opulence to heavy-duty torque ratings.

Battle is now being waged at the business end of pickups, as well. After watching GMC introduce a MultiPro tailgate that flips and folds like so much origami, Ram is jumping into the fray with its own variation of the same theme.

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Say you’re planning on hauling items of uneven length in your next full-size pickup. Eventually, everyone does. Those extra-long pieces of lumber, a disassembled bed frame, tubing, you name it, would normally poke out the top of the bed, resting on a closed tailgate.

Not in the 2019 Ram 1500, it seems.

Spy photos of the next-generation Ram full-sizer reveal a very suspicious seam in the vehicle’s tailgate, and there should be no mystery as to what it means. (Read More…)

Dan writes:

Hey Sajeev,

Perhaps you or doppleganger Sanjeev have an answer for this. Why are a lot of SUV/Crossovers these days ending up with cut lines along the lower third of their liftgates?

This is showing up on the Ford Escape, 2012-2016 Honda CR-V, Hyundai/Kia crossovers, and maybe some others I can’t remember. Is there a removable panel here, or what? I’ve noticed that this has disappeared in the 2017 CR-V’s redesign, but there’s still plenty of brand new CUVs that have this design feature.

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This just happened. (photo courtesy: Ram)

Most design students don’t consider Peak Oil in their studies, but The Reckoning was on my reading list back then. While Peak Oil is tangentially connected to car design, we clearly reached Peak Emblem.

It cannot get any worse than what’s being introduced in Chicago this week.

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(photo courtesy: hardworkingtrucks.com)

Yesterday’s post on Texas Tailgate Theft definitely struck a nerve with this Native Texan, especially the NCIB’s Quote:

“Since a tailgate theft takes just seconds to accomplish, consumers might consider using an after-market security device, such as a hinge lock to thwart criminals.”

Yeah, not quite…

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