EcoDiesel Hitting the Lots

This week a lot porter will fill one with unleaded. Wait for it.

Holey Toledo! I'll have to head over for a test drive within the next month.

Way to go RAM, your most popular truck configuration is made in the US!
Too bad GM closed Jainsville, Pontiac truck and Sherevport assembly plants.

I called a local dealer and he says they have one on display. Says they just pulled it up front this morning and it will be at the dealership until this weekend. He says he can start it up and let me listen to it but it isn't available for test drives. That all sounds pretty good.

I show up and the salesman can't find the key. After the second hunting session he says "Chrysler has it, they don't want us to start it up." That was a waste of time.

It was a loaded Laramie, looked nice, clean, says it had about 15,000 miles on it, had AZ manufacturer plates so it's been driving around AZ for a little while.

How did they get it off the truck if Chrysler has the key?

I think it was assigned to a regional chrysler employee. He was spreading the love by dropped it off at different dealers for training and a little bit of customer PR. I'm not sure I buy the idea that the key was gone though.

It's been over 2 weeks now since that video and I still can't find a single peep online, no dealers are selling, or for that matter no one reports owning one. Malaysian Airlines must be transporting them to the dealerships.

Salem Jeep/Ram keeps advertising an allocation of 50.
I know they have a lot of Cummins powered trucks.

Diesel Dan wrote:

Way to go RAM, your most popular truck configuration is made in the US!

If you want a regular cab or an HD though, you're out of luck ... it's all "Hecho en Mexico".

I called Dave Smith Motors, reportedly the #1 Dodge/Ram/Chrysler/Jeep dealer. They have an ecodiesel demo available to drive and they will take orders but they have no idea when they will receive ecodiesels. Something makes me think there's more going on to this story.

rustbucket wrote:

If you want a regular cab or an HD though, you're out of luck ... it's all "Hecho en Mexico".

What happened to the St. Louis plant that made HDs?
I know there was a time when some came from Mexico and others for the US plant.

Never mind, just googled it and see where they closed both plants.  

With Ram sales doing so well I bet they wish for that capacity back.

I finally saw an online reference to a Wisconsin dealer having its first ecodiesel on the lot. I think it was an article dated 3 days ago.

On average it takes two to six weeks for produced vehicles to hit the lots. Tracking some of my own, they'll sit for days at a transfer station. Getting onto rail, off rail, etc. I've seen some wait for 10 weeks for a delivery. It's all over the map.

It's gonna be 2015 before the 2014 trucks are widely available. Maybe the better way to go is just wait a few more months so you can get a good deal on the outgoing model as dealers try and make room for the new ones.   

Scout wrote:

It's gonna be 2015 before the 2014 trucks are widely available.

There is a person over at GMI that ordered his '14 Silverado in October '13 and still hasn't taken delivery.
GM has one of the best gas engines in the 6.2L V8 but has constrained production so bad it's like unobtainable.

Edit:
Salem Dodge/Ram has a paper add stating 50 eco-diesel 1/2 tons on the lot with more coming.

I checked several ecodiesel forums and only one person has an ecodiesel in possession. Everyone else seems dumbfounded by delivery delays. Some say their trucks are in an unknown state of delay. They are in shipment status but remain at the manufacturer.

We need Paul Harvey.