Fiat green lights new Ram brand

[SVT666]

Fiat green lights new Ram brand, pulls ahead first Fiat-based Chrysler model
10/01/2009, 11:15 AMBY DREW JOHNSON


Following rumors that broke late last month, Fiat will move forward with a plan to create a separate Ram brand within Chrysler?s Dodge division. In addition to the new Ram brand plan, Fiat has also decided to rush Chrysler?s first Fiat-based model to market by 2011.

According to Automotive News, Fiat will reveal its new plans for Chrysler to the United States government this week.

Under Fiat?s plan for the Ram brand, all of Dodge?s truck offering will be moved to the new division. That shift will include vehicles like the Dakota pickup truck, but could also include SUV models, such as the upcoming Dodge Durango.

The decision to move Dodge?s truck offerings to a new Ram brand will clear the way for Fiat to transform the Dodge brand into a performance car division, similar to the Italian automaker?s Alfa Rome brand. Additionally, the separation will make the sale of Dodge?s truck operation much easier, should the need arise down the road.

It remains unclear what Fiat-based Chrysler model will be launched in 2011, but it will be in addition to the Fiat 500, set to launch next year.

[Speed_Racer]

Seems odd to me. I thought they were trying to minimize the amount of brands they have, not create new ones.

[S204STi]

Sounds reasonable.

[SVT666]

Seems odd to me. I thought they were trying to minimize the amount of brands they have, not create new ones.

I don't see a problem with more brands as long as the brands have a specific identity.  GM's problem was all the brands looked the same.  Fiat is proposing this:

Ram - Trucks, SUVs, and Minivans
Chrysler - Luxury cars
Dodge - Performance cars
Jeep - Offroad

If they can split them up like this and not share product the way GM did, I think it will work.

[93JC]

Where does Jeep fit?

[cawimmer430]

Where does Jeep fit?

Looks like you're the only customer. 

[Galaxy]

I don't see a problem with more brands as long as the brands have a specific identity.  GM's problem was all the brands looked the same.  Fiat is proposing this:

Ram - Trucks, SUVs, and Minivans
Chrysler - Luxury cars
Dodge - Performance cars

If they can split them up like this and not share product the way GM did, I think it will work.

And where does that leave Jeep? The distinction between Jeep and Ram will be difficult. I am assuming that Chrysler will keep the Town & Country. Perhaps priced higher then it currently is.

[Galaxy]

Where does Jeep fit?

Sorry I missed that.

[3.0L V6]

Seems like an easy way to save the Ram and dump the rest of Dodge, if need be.

[Galaxy]

If I read this right then the relationship between Dodge and Alfa will be like Seat and Audi.

[ifcar]

I don't see a problem with more brands as long as the brands have a specific identity.  GM's problem was all the brands looked the same.  Fiat is proposing this:

Ram - Trucks, SUVs, and Minivans
Chrysler - Luxury cars
Dodge - Performance cars

If they can split them up like this and not share product the way GM did, I think it will work.

They forgot "mainstream cars."

[the Teuton]

Why not make Dodge into trucks and bring back AMC/Plymouth/DeSoto/anything else cool?

[Eye of the Tiger]

They forgot "mainstream cars."

pfffft

[Catman]

Not sure I like it.

[SVT666]

Where does Jeep fit?

Oh shit.  It's been amended.

[Galaxy]

Oh shit.  It's been amended.

Jeep and Ram will be both be Offroad brands it would seem. The only workable solution around this, that I can see is to position Jeep higher and with less volume as a real Land Rover competitior. The GC can stay as it is. Make the Commander a real Range Rover competitor.

[Cookie Monster]

Ram Dakota?

[Eye of the Tiger]

Ram Ram?

[Tave]

I don't like this move. It devalues Dodge and possibly Dodge trucks without any real upshot. The Ram is Dodge's most valuable asset, and people are comfortable buying Rams from Dodge because they've been doing it for decades. Now they want to simultaneously rob Dodge of the one product that's worth anything, and send the Ram off into uncharted waters. It's not like they're going to sell more Rams on its own name, so they're risking a possible sales decline in return for........nothing.

Dodge trucks were, with the possible exception of the Wrangler, the one Chrysler holding that didn't need any attention whatsoever. Don't fix what isn't broken, focus on the real problems.

[TBR]

Jeep and Ram will be both be Offroad brands it would seem. The only workable solution around this, that I can see is to position Jeep higher and with less volume as a real Land Rover competitior. The GC can stay as it is. Make the Commander a real Range Rover competitor.

Other than the Power Wagon (which is quite distinct from anything Jeep makes), I really don't see Ram as an offroad brand. The Ram brand could certainly be managed so as to not clash with Jeep as it is now.

[the Teuton]

This idea sounds far too myopic for something so ever-changing like the US auto industry.

Ask people what a crossover was 30 years ago, and they might start talking about Freddie Mercury or something...

The market is not stagnant, and for them to do this seems too self-limiting, imo.

[NomisR]

I don't like this move. It devalues Dodge and possibly Dodge trucks without any real upshot. The Ram is Dodge's most valuable asset, and people are comfortable buying Rams from Dodge because they've been doing it for decades. Now they want to simultaneously rob Dodge of the one product that's worth anything, and send the Ram off into uncharted waters. It's not like they're going to sell more Rams on its own name, so they're risking a possible sales decline in return for........nothing.

Dodge trucks were, with the possible exception of the Wrangler, the one Chrysler holding that didn't need any attention whatsoever. Don't fix what isn't broken, focus on the real problems.

Well, Chrysler has been milking the Ram for the past decade though, everything they made in the Dodge brand even looked like the Ram.  They just slap the front end of the Ram onto a car body and called it a design.  What they need to start doing is learn how to design a car that doesn't look like a truck. 

[Galaxy]

Other than the Power Wagon (which is quite distinct from anything Jeep makes), I really don't see Ram as an offroad brand. The Ram brand could certainly be managed so as to not clash with Jeep as it is now.

You do not see the Ram truck as an offroad vehicle? I would imagine the average Ram gets used more offroad then the average Grand Cherokee and can do around 95% of waht the GC can do.

[SVT666]

You do not see the Ram truck as an offroad vehicle? I would imagine the average Ram gets used more offroad then the average Grand Cherokee and can do around 95% of waht the GC can do.

It's not marketed as such.

[Galaxy]

It's not marketed as such.

When the current Ram was introduced at the New York auto show it was presented with cows and cowboys. And yes bringing feed to your cattle counts as offroading. Offroading is not limited to rock crawling.  I would imagine many Ram drivers fantasize about driving through their (probably imaginary) ranch, just like 911 drivers fantasize about tearing up the N?rburgring. 

[TBR]

When the current Ram was introduced at the New York auto show it was presented with cows and cowboys. And yes bringing feed to your cattle counts as offroading. Offroading is not limited to rock crawling.  I would imagine many Ram drivers fantasize about driving through their (probably imaginary) ranch, just like 911 drivers fantasize about tearing up the N?rburgring. 

My Prelude could do a splendid job of driving around pastures and dirt roads (ie: what ranchers do), but that doesn't make it an offroader.

[Galaxy]

My Prelude could do a splendid job of driving around pastures and dirt roads (ie: what ranchers do), but that doesn't make it an offroader.

So this is not offroading just because they are not going over boulders?






Unless I am seriously overestimating the Ram it will handle this just as easily as the GC.

[Tave]

Meh--It'd be a toss-up between the Ram and Jeep over modest technical work as well.

My Prelude could do a splendid job of driving around pastures

Ahhahaha. Sure it could.

[NomisR]

So this is not offroading just because they are not going over boulders?






Unless I am seriously overestimating the Ram it will handle this just as easily as the GC.

Yeah, but the Ram doesn't offer the same protection for those in the back from Lions as the Grand Cherokee would. 

[Tave]

wat