What Is Ram Without Dodge? Fiat And Chrysler Will Find Out

Posted by Dale Buss on December 11, 2009 10:01 AM

Fiat SpA aims to rescue Chrysler from the ash heap of automotive history. Already, the Italians are making sense with some of their rehab work, such as clearing the way to bring Fiat’s small cars to the Chrysler lineup in the US.

But on another front, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne's strategy is questionable: He has split Dodge into Ram truck and car sub-brands with the idea of establishing Ram -- essentially sans Dodge -- as Chrysler’s truck marque.

Fiat’s logic for the separation is that the Dodge brand means little to car buyers, and that’s true.

“It’s not such a terrible idea to take the Dodge truck and try to brand it as an entity because it really doesn’t fit the car business,” Gary Dilts, senior vice president at J.D. Power & Associates, told the Detroit News. “A Dodge Ram truck is in a totally different hemisphere than a Dodge Caliber.”

Even as pickup-truck sales in the US market remain down, Chrysler has ambitious plans to expand the Ram truck franchise into commercial vans as well and to boost global Ram sales from 280,000 today to 415,000 in 2014, mostly in North America.

So far, so good. But beyond growth plans that may be a bit far-fetched given the current global economic slump. The more dubious aspect of this strategy is for Fiat to diminish the Dodge part of its Ram truck brand.

Among other things, Chrysler already has launched radio advertising that introduces the notion of a Ram brand, with a sort-of-awkward “I am Ram” theme. But “Dodge” doesn’t show up in new Ram advertising. And Fiat also plans to take “Dodge” off a new Ram’s head logo that will debut on trucks in about six months.

What’s the point? It’s one thing to take “Dodge” off cars, where it hasn’t done much good since the original Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger in the 1960s.

But it’s quite another thing to presume that the “Dodge” part of the company’s pick-up truck franchise means absolutely nothing to American consumers. Truck buyers identify with “Dodge” -- otherwise “Ram” wouldn’t have gotten where it already is.

Put another way: Would “F-150” pack as much punch without “Ford” or “Silverado” without “Chevy”?

More about: Automotive, Dodge, Ram, Fiat, Chrysler, Fiat SpA, J.D. Power & Associates

Chris DiAlfredi says:

Beggars really can't be choosers.

This might be a smart move on Sergio Marchionne's part. A bit of a gamble, for sure, but Marchionne is not known for his poorly planned, knee-jerk reactions. Mr. Marchionne spent the early part of his career attending school in Windsor, Ontario--eyeballing Detroit the whole time. He made moves at Fiat just a few years ago that were widely questioned throughout Europe; yet now, he's hailed as an economic hero and the redesigned Fiat 500 is Europe's new automotive darling. (I can't wait!)

Ford is a much stronger brand than Dodge (Chrysler); and long-term sales histories of the Ford F-150 reinforce this notion. The F-150 probably could survive, and eventually thrive as a stand-alone truck brand, but Ram, as a stand-alone, makes even more sense. I used to own a Dodge Ram myself, so I can speak with some knowledge here. Other Ram owners I've known complained about the same problems privately, but thumped their collective chests with brand pride because they were Ram owners, not Dodge Truck owners.

(I've seen plenty more 'Calvin's' peeing on Ram logos than on Dodge Truck logos on the back windows of Chevy Trucks!)

Dodge, in and of itself, has become dead weight to the Chrysler organization. Chrysler practically needs a complete overhaul, at this point, just to stay alive. Mr. Marchionne should be expected to trim the dead weight and create a leaner, more responsive corporation that will be much more competitive in the long-term. That being said, this might be the perfect time for the Dodge family to go extinct and Ram to rise from the ashes as a 'new' brand that can use the excitement generated by the Chrysler/Fiat lineup to propel its new destiny. I only hope that they make a big deal out of this, and make the new Ram Truck brand look intentional, instead of trying a soft-sell, 'slip-in-the-back-door' approach.

Chris DiAlfredi
www.rubberbrandman.com

December 14, 2009 10:19 AM #

Lorne McMillan says:

I agree that this might be a smart move for Chrysler/Fiat.  Creating a distinct commercial vehicles brand called Ram could be a great idea, it gives the organization room to grow and offers potential new opportunities.  It also better defines Dodge without Ram as a passenger car brand, either to be quietly killed off or to have something more definite made of it (maybe as a performance car brand, or as an entry-level car brand for the Chrysler group, taking over the role that the Plymouth brand was originally intended for, but that's ancient history).  Either way, it gives them new opportunities and clearer operating room, again.
And please let's not confuse auto brands with auto company names: Ford being the case in point here.  'Ford' is both an auto brand and the name of the Corporation, thus the F-150 analogy doesn't hold, it's a different situation for the Chrysler/Fiat corporation (whatever it's called right now) who own the Dodge brand, and who own the now separate Ram brand.

Once again I see the beginnings of potentially smart thinking coming out of Chrysler/Fiat, and not before time.  To diss this kind of brand engineering move just because the initial Ram ads are a bit 'awkward' really misses the point.

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