Selling cars is a game. If you aren’t on offense, you might as well close your doors because it is just going to cost you. The OEM’s all hold tight their “Best In Class” trophies and make sure that everyone knows they have them.

Recently, the new Nissan Titan was released and we put together an article showing how the Titan stands up against the other half-ton trucks. In that article the Titan is poised to take two of the top spots (official numbers haven’t been released). The other diesel in the class (Ram’s EcoDiesel) holds tight to the “Best In Class” fuel economy title.

Ford just redesigned their F-150. The two big changes that could drastically change the ratings are the new all aluminum body and the addition of a smaller 2.7-Liter Ecoboost gas engine. Ford has already announced some of the specs and they are pretty impressive. The payload capacity of the F-150 is a whopping 3,300lbs. That is three quarter ton territory and it is well above everyone else in the class. The lighter body certainly helped Ford bump this rating up.

We know the lighter body will help the fuel economy ratings. Ford is obviously watching what is going on because they are introducing a smaller 2.7-Liter engine into a full size truck. That engine is almost half the size of their V8. The most likely reason is to improve the fuel economy rating of the truck.

Ram is the current title holder with a rating of 20/28 (city/hwy) and the 2014 F-150 was rated at 17/23. Ram isn’t taking any chances and they decided it was time to look at their 2015 to see if they can bump the ratings even higher.

Most of the time, the advertised fuel economy rating of a truck is the lightest configuration with the smallest engine. For Ram, that would be a regular cab short bed. One obstacle the EcoDiesel faces is the large quantity of after treatments that are required for today’s emission levels. Anyone who has gotten under a diesel in the past 5 years has seen the multiple stage treatments that take up most of the space between the engine and the axle (if you include the muffler).

Instead of redesigning a system that would work with a regular cab short bed, Ram decided to look for the lightest configuration that was popular. “We didn’t want to build a unicorn,” is how Nick Cappa, Ram Truck Media Relations described the choice of which configuration they opted for. Ram wants people to want this combination, not just use it for advertising. They settled on the quad cab short bed configuration with a Tradesman trim level.

2015 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel HFE

Next, they installed their fuel sipping EcoDiesel with their eight speed TorqueFlight automatic. Then they started to focus on the aerodynamics of the truck. The truck already is equipped with grille shutters and air suspension. To further reduce the drag, 20 inch wheels were selected. Yep, larger 20 inch wheels have less drag then the standard wheels.

Between the wheels, a full length running boards or steps as Ram called them were added. Then, a tri-fold tonneau cover was installed in the bed.

The results, 21 mpg in the city and 29 on the hwy. Ram increased their lead against the competition who are using lighter cab configurations. “Twenty-nine miles per gallon cuts through the clutter. Ram invested in powertrain technologies and those are paying real dividends in the wallets of our customers,” said Bob Hegbloom, President and CEO – Ram Truck Brand. For us diesel enthusiasts, this just adds to the already thick layer of icing. The EcoDiesel is 12 percent more fuel efficient than the closest competitor!

The bar has just been raised!