Ram Professional unit looks to grow truck brand's commercial business

DETROIT — Ram, looking to make inroads in the commercial space, has been hosting companies at its North America headquarters to show them how the brand's evolving portfolio can meet their work vehicle needs.

Garnering more commercial business will be crucial at a time when U.S. sales for the Stellantis truck line have been sliding. Ram volume declined 26 percent in the first half of the year, with pickup deliveries falling 20 percent.

The Ram Professional unit, which is centered on the commercial business in North America, debuted in March. Christine Feuell, who became Ram's CEO in June, said it gives the brand a "dedicated team with the right experience being 100 percent focused on the commercial segment, and those customers will really help us to grow more quickly than in the past."

Ram's commercial team is making its pitch with a product slate that boasts the most diverse set of powertrains in the brand's history, including the new ProMaster EV, a van that landed Amazon as its first major customer. In the pickup segment, the upcoming electric 1500 REV and extended-range 1500 Ramcharger will serve as workhorses that can handle various use cases.

"We've hosted a number of top companies here on our campus to give them a full afternoon's preview into all the products that we have today, their capabilities, and then a short glimpse into the products that we're going to be bringing to market here over the next 12 months or so and understanding how those products can best fit in their portfolio and better serve their needs," Ken Kayser, Stellantis' vice president of North American commercial vehicle operations, said in a July 30 interview at the company's North America headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich. "Through those conversations, and helping to build those relationships, we're gaining invaluable insights into how we can best bring those products and services to market to make them more efficient, to make them more profitable in their business."

Ram is using a "multi-energy, pick your power" approach, Feuell said, and sees growth potential in the electrified segment among commercial customers. She called the Ramcharger, with its onboard gasoline generator helping to create a 690-mile range, the "perfect bridge between ICE and going full BEV."

Feuell said that while Stellantis developed the Ramcharger and REV, it kept in mind that range and charge time are critical factors in adoption of electrified products. But the company also understood that commercial customers look closely at attributes such as payload and towing.

Feuell said she thinks Ram has found the performance sweet spot with both the REV and Ramcharger. Each truck, she said, is a "no-compromises solution."

The ProMaster EV van was designed with input from Amazon, which will use it for last-mile deliveries. The van has a targeted range of 162 miles in city driving.

Amazon has a "few demo vehicles that they're driving and testing," Feuell said. She expects Amazon to start taking delivery of its first batch of ProMaster EVs this year.

Ram's push to build up its commercial business joins similar efforts at General Motors and Ford Motor Co. GM Envolve, created in 2023 to simplify the sales process and help businesses manage their fleets, hosted hundreds of potential customers in Las Vegas this spring to pitch its offerings. Ford, the only one of the Detroit 3 to report its commercial unit profits separately, said Ford Pro earned $2.6 billion in the second quarter with 15.1 percent margins.

At Ram, one truck option that found a niche catering to entry-level and commercial customers is on its way out of the lineup.

Production of the Ram 1500 Classic, a long-running pickup that launched in 2008 and continued to be produced after the next generation arrived in 2018, will conclude at the end of the year, Feuell said.

When the Classic, which starts at $40,700 with shipping, disappears, the Ram lineup will start at $42,270 for the freshened Tradesman trim. The Classic lacks some of safety and connected-vehicle technologies that are on the latest truck.

"It has been a workhorse for a long time," Feuell told Automotive News. "There's a big difference between the two trucks and the technology."