INDIANAPOLIS. The Ram Truck division of Chrysler plans to begin offering its new 3.0-liter EcoDiesel V6 engine for its half-ton pickups in the summer this year, while also establishing an initial $26,030 retail pricing floor for its new full-size ProMaster van due to go into production in the third quarter of 2013 as well.
“If you want to play in the commercial truck market, you must have the breadth of product,” Bob Hegbloom, director of the Ram Truck division, told Fleet Owner during a press event here at the National Truck Equipment Association’s 2013 Work Truck Show. “We’re now going to have a wide variety of products in place to compete in this market.”
[You can watch part of Hegbloom’s product presentation by clicking here.]
Hegbloom added that Ram expects that the flexibility and several design features of the ProMaster will help give it legs in the full-size commercial van space. First, it will be offered in 13 different configurations, including a cutaway model, with two different roof heights, four different body lengths and three different wheelbases. With all the “bells and whistles” included, the ProMaster should top out on the high end around $36,000, he noted.
[To view the Ram Truck products on display at the 2013 Work Truck Show, click here.]
Fred Diaz, president and CEO of the Ram Truck division, pointed out that the new light-duty diesel engine and ProMaster van offering are just part of the new “strategic focus” for the group’s new Ram Commercial Truck division launched last November.
“This is a ‘no-messing-around’ division,” Diaz said. “Our plan is to make our commercial truck offerings to the industry better, bigger, stronger, faster, smarter, and more efficient than the competition and [compared] to what we’ve ever done before.”
