Chrysler Building Ram 1500 Diesels, But Sales Lag - Ward's Auto (blog)
FCA announced last September it was ramping up production of the diesel engine at the VM Motori plant in Cento, Italy, to achieve a 20% mix, double the initial expectation for the U. S. market’s first modern diesel in a light-duty fullsize pickup. An FCA executive recently told WardsAuto that manufacturing bottlenecks in the Cento plant were addressed, freeing up the additional engines to meet what was described as overwhelming demand for the diesel truck. Through June, FCA says the diesel makes up 18% of the Ram 1500s shipped from the plants but only 12% of the retail mix. The discrepancy in the data suggests a lot more Ram diesels have been coming out of the plant than have been ending up in driveways, for several months now. If that weren’t the case, the retail mix would be well above 12%. As of April, registration data for purchased vehicles was even lower, reflecting less than 9% of Ram 1500 buyers were picking the diesel. Check the inventory of Ram dealers, and you’ll find lots of Ram 1500s available, especially with the 5. 7L Hemi V-8 or the 3. 6L Pentastar gasoline V-6, but just a smattering of diesel V-6s. Source: wardsauto.com
