Ram receives firestorm of orders for new light-duty diesel pickup
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
Truck maker received 8,000 U.S. dealer orders for EcoDiesel-powered Ram 1500 in just three days
AUBURN HILLS, Mich.—Chrysler says orders for its new diesel-equipped light duty pickup eclipsed 8,000 in just three days, filling the initial order allocation for the truck in the United States.
According to Chrysler, orders from U.S. dealerships for the 2014 Ram 1500 powered by the 3.0-litre EcoDiesel V6 engine hit the 8,000 unit mark quickly after they opened Feb. 7—just days after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certified the truck at 28 miles per gallon (MPG) on the highway, or about 8.4 litres/100 kilometres.
“The Ram 1500 is the only half-ton truck available with a diesel, so we see this as incremental business by having the only truck that can offer best-in-class fuel economy of 28 MPG combined with 9,200 lbs. of towing capacity,” Ram Truck chief executive Reid Bigland said in a statement from the automaker.
The special order rate—the number of orders already paid for by customers—for the diesel model is nearly twice the corporate average, Chrysler said, though it did not provide numbers.
The engine is also available in the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Production of the diesel-powered pickups began this month, with shipping expected to start in March.
Chrysler said special order customers will be given priority in the first batch of trucks, with orders for dealer stocking filled with what remains.
The next order allocation of EcoDiesel-equipped Ram 1500s will open in early March.
