2014 Fiat Strada Lumberjack Long Cab
Wherever Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne and Ram Truck boss Reid Bigland roamed during the marathon that was the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Investor Day 2014, two questions followed: “What about aluminum trucks?” and, “Any plans for a mid-size Dakota replacement?” While Marchionne fielded the first one on several occasions (we’ll get to that in a minute), Reid outlined the reasoning for not building a domestic mid-size pickup or bringing the new Fiat Professional mid-size pickup here when it debuts overseas in 2016.
“Believe me, we’ve wrestled with this for sometime now,” said Reid. “To do it successfully, we figure it would need to come in under $20,000, get better mileage than the full-size Ram 1500—currently EPA rated at 25 and 28 highway mpg for the V-6 gas and diesel engines—and, to fit in with FCA’s new platform consolidation plan, have to employ unibody construction. If you read into that last statement a bit, it’s a good bet the as-of-yet unrevealed 2016 overseas mid-sizer will be a unibody truck.”
Sergio countered this, saying he felt there was probably room for a “Ram 1000,” going as far to say they’ve actually presented such a model in consumer clinics, but the response has been lukewarm. What both Marchionne or Reid failed to mention is that FCA will never do a product that cannibalizes sales of the full-size Ram, which, according to some estimates, is currently responsible for about two-thirds of North American net profit.
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- First Drive Review: 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel V-6
Addressing persistent questions about Ford’s use of aluminum in the 2015 Ford F-150 and the possibility of Ram adopting the practice, Marchionne’s started cautiously, saying, “I have better uses in this house for aluminum than a pickup truck,” before yielding slightly with, “If it’s the right answer, we [meaning FCA and GM] will all join in,” eventually referencing the 2017 Ram 1500 redesign with, “Ram is prepared to do aluminum in 2017 if wish. My gut feeling is that we will not.” To make things even more confusing, when asked if there is a better use for aluminum than the next Jeep Wrangler, he replied bluntly: “No.” Not wanting the opportunity to get away without a quote of his own, Reid offered, “Vision without execution is a hallucination.”
In summary: No mid-size truck for North America, an aluminum Wrangler is in FCA’s peripheral vision, and FCA has the pieces in place to go aluminum if the aluminum Ford F-150 proves so successful it eats into Ram sales.
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