Reaction to 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel Is Unprecedented, Chrysler Says

Edmunds.com

Reaction to 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel Is Unprecedented, Chrysler Says

The reaction to the 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel has been so enthusiastic that Chrysler is starting to wonder if it will be able to fill demand.

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okbeartoy

"This is the first application of a diesel engine in a light-duty pickup truck by any automaker."

Totally incorrect statement - GM used two different engines in the late 70's-80's in 1/2 ton trucks, and most of the imports Toyota/Nissan/Mazda/Isuzu as well as the small Ford Ranger and GM S10/S15's had diesels in the past..

agentorange

I hope nobody does something stupid like tell VM to up the production rate. That would likely kill durability due to the haste to make product.

greenpony

We'll see how this plays out. Initial interest doesn't always translate to sustained sales.

greenpony

agentorange, ramping up production for something like this does not affect quality, since the production and quality processes are the same whether you're running at 30% or 100%. If they have the idle capacity, it's just a matter of keeping the production line running for a third shift, or on weekends, etc. There is no such thing as "haste to make product" since time studies have been conducted on every aspect of production -- there's no getting around that without some fundamental design changes which are not undertaken without a full qualification/FMEA process. The way this article is worded, though, is that VM Motori has capacity for x qty of this engine or fewer, and that's it. If they are capable of building 30,000, then that's all Chrysler is getting.

reminder

If it proves to be durable, it'll sell by the ton.
And then what GM & Ford scramble.