Freep:
Heavy-duty Dodge Ram a crucial Chrysler launch
Posted Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009, 12:48 pm in Employee News
Chrysler Group LLC has begun shipping its redesigned 2010 Dodge Ram heavy-duty pickup line, the largest and most profitable vehicles in the company’s lineup, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The trucks, known more specifically as the Ram 2500 and 3500, are aimed at contractors, small business owners and construction companies, as well as recreational users who tow boats, horses or other vehicles, the paper said. They are the automaker’s first all-new models launched since its June 10 exit from bankruptcy, the Free Press said.
With crude oil approaching $80 a barrel and new residential and commercial construction still in the doldrums, the new heavy-duty Rams will need all their torque and horsepower to overcome strong economic headwinds, the paper noted. Industry-wide sales of full-size pickup trucks have fallen 34 percent in the first nine months of 2009 from a year earlier. Sales of all Dodge Rams, including the light-duty 1500, are down 27 percent for the same period, the story said.
But experts painted a hopeful picture. “Actually it’s not bad timing, especially if we start to see some recovery in housing,” said Aaron Bragman, an industry analyst with IHS Global Insight in Troy, Mich., the paper said What’s more, Chrysler’s U.S. market share in the heavy-duty truck segment has held up well during the recession. For the first nine months of the year, it captured 23.8 percent of the market, up from 23.0 percent during the same year-ago period, the story said. (Detroit Free Press)
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