Best in Class

2016 Ram 3500 HD Gets 900 lb-ft, 31,210 Max Towing
Ram Showing No Sign of Backing Down from HD Battle

Quote :

Fullsize trucks are a cutthroat-competitive market segment, and although the majority of sales are 1/2-ton models, the real battle for supremacy is in the HD segment, with capabilities that make the trucks genuine alternatives to medium and heavy-duty commercial trucks in some cases. Ram has just raised the bar even further for 2016 with the announcement of the max torque figure for the 2016 Ram 3500 equipped with the Cummins 6.7L turbodiesel I-6 at a staggering 900 lb-ft. That figure represents a 35 lb-ft increase from the 2015 model and a 40 lb-ft advantage over its next closest rival, the Ford 6.7L Power Stroke V-8, which has 860 lb-ft. Ram claims the torque figure is the highest ever offered in a non-commercial mass-production vehicle.

Ram also touts the 3500’s 31,210-pound maximum towing capacity, the best-in-class gas payload of 7,390 on 3500 models equipped with the 6.4L Hemi V-8, and claimed best-in-class 3/4-ton towing capacity of 17,980 pounds. To handle the increased capacity and torque output, the rear axle ring gear was beefed up from 12 bolts to 16 on the 11.8-inch rear axle.

Pricing for the 2016 Ram 2500 starts at $32,680, including $1,195 destination, and $33,185 for the Ram 3500. Going by 2015 option prices for the Cummins engine (and the mandatory Aisin six-speed automatic transmission), add $11,300 to the bottom line for the upgrade. Adding dual rear wheels adds another $1,200. So the cheapest torque monster you could get would hypothetically be $44,485 or $45,685 if you want the dually.

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Source: RAM

This is officially gone insane, like it really matters at this point.  There's certainly not a new large untapped market who were not served by any of the previous heavy duty trucks.  Much less 31k towing capacity is going to bring in thousands of new prospective buyers over trucks that tow 25k lbs.  It's ridiculous  to to point of non-relevance.

900 ft lbs?  For how long, a split second.  In how many gears?  Likely one, first only as the RPM's will never drop down low enough to see 900 ft lbs in any higher gear.  Like 850ft. lbs would have been inadequate.  

When the market was 450 to 600 ft lbs it' mattered.  Now at current baseline power levels by any manufacturer it borders irrelevancy.

Yea, it is driven by the marketing department. Biggest/baddest sells.

Didn't the lower published HP/TQ Duramax beat both the Ford SD and Ram HD in a towing test recently?

The entire meme is creeping toward the import crowd crescendo of performance, HP per liter, foregoing it's a lawn mower. The big towing number, much the same.