Chrysler Creates Ram Brand

5th October 2009

As rumored, Chrysler has split the Dodge brand into 2 parts - Dodge Car and Dodge RAM. In an announcement today, Chrysler made official the rumor that started last week. Dodge cars will continue to be marketed as Dodge, while the trucks will add the RAM name.

Some believe this is being done to isolate the valuable parts of Chrysler (Jeep and Dodge trucks) from the no so valuable parts (Chrysler and Dodge cars) for an eventual sale or discontinuation. Assuming that FIAT plans to keep all of the parts, there are some pros and cons to this move.

Pro: Dodge trucks have enjoyed a positive position in the market, especially since they gave the RAM truck its own tough look and image with the Mack Truck redesign in the 1992 model year. Like Ford and Chevrolet, Dodge’s image is confusing to the public. They have a good tough truck image for the trucks, while their cars are seen as commodities. Ford and Chevrolet have worked very hard over many years to shed this image. Dodge doesn’t have many years. Separating the 2 will allow them to craft an entirely new image for Dodge cars. Hopefully, they will develop some cars that fit that new image. As stated here previously, Dodge needs to stand for sporty and affordable fun transportation. The “Dodge Trucks are Ram Tough” doesn’t work with that. Ford and Chevy are likely going to be very interested in how well this works. Neither of them have a ready-made sub-brand like RAM, but this is a copycat business. If the RAM brand is a success, look for Ford and/or Chevrolet to try something similar.

Con: the flip side of allowing the cars and trucks to have separate images to the customers is that the change will likely confuse those same customers. With so many nameplates out there, the last thing you should do is confuse your customers. However, with good communication, this will be lessened. Dodge needs to make sure it doesn’t think that customers will make any effort to understand what they’re doing. They may just go elsewhere. Keeping the Dodge name, along with the RAM name, will help. The plan is apparently to keep the Dodge name while adding the RAM moniker, so it will be Dodge RAM pickup, Dodge RAM Dakota, etc. The other potential hurdle is that the RAM truck brand will be diluted to include (potentially) many other vehicles. RAM is probably Chrysler’s strongest brand, behind Jeep, and the potential harm they could do to it (and therefore, to the company) by including other vehicle types cannot be ignored or overstated.