Rams, Hellcats vanish from factory lots

Thieves have been busy over the past few months stealing high-priced, just-built vehicles from security-patrolled lots surrounding Stellantis auto plants in the Detroit area.

News reports showed a mangled gate left after one recent job. In another incident, a getaway attempt ended with a Ram smashed into the side of a passing semitruck.

A Michigan State Police bulletin sent to area police departments and obtained by TV station WXYZ said the thieves have been accessing the vehicles by using tablets to duplicate key fob signals.

Among the vehicles taken have been expensive Ram Rebel TRX pickups, Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawks, Dodge Charger Hellcats and Challenger Hellcats, sources told TV station WDIV.

Stellantis, in a statement to the station, wouldn't confirm which vehicles had been taken or how the thieves took them. The automaker said it was working with police in connection with the theft of "several vehicles" last week from a third-party shipping yard that services its Ram 1500 plant in Sterling Heights, Mich.

Police said they would be adding patrols outside the Ram plant's gates.