Talking Trucks

New Ram Chief Talks Trucks and Aluminum

We recently had the chance to sit down with Bob Hegbloom, the new Ram Truck and Commercial CEO and President, during a media
lunch that took place at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich, last week. Hegbloom discussed trucks, quality
issues and customer wants. Here are some of the key take-aways.

Quote :

-When asked about an SRT Ram Hellcat pickup truck or something similar to the supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi offerings for the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat (600-plus horsepower) and Charger SRT Hellcat (707 hp), Hegbloom said that at this point FCA sees other vehicles and segments that need attention. We noted that he said, "at this point."

-In order for Ram to offer a smaller, midsize or compact pickup truck, it would need to deliver in four key areas: It would need to be much smaller than the full-size Ram pickups, still offer capability, deliver more than 30 mpg combined and be priced below the full-size pickups. It's worth noting that the former Dodge Dakota didn't really hit any of those characteristics: It was big, thirsty and pricey to produce. Fuel prices did not cooperate either.

-When asked about Ram's recent dismal reliability scores from Consumer Reports Auto Survey, Hegbloom discussed the advanced technology now in the typical new pickup, like Wi-Fi hotspots and new touch-screen technologies, adding that some new-truck buyers haven't driven a new truck for 10 years or more. He suggested that some buyer dissatisfaction may be attributable to owners needing to get comfortable with technology.

-Hegbloom has been with Chrysler for all of his 28-year career and he's been with or close to the truck lineup for most of those years. He was with Fred Diaz when the Ram truck brand was created in 2010 and was instrumental in pushing for a separate Ram commercial brand as well. Hegbloom also acted as Reid Bigland's right-hand man when he took over the pickup division. Hegbloom said he'll stick to the Ram's five-year plan announced last year, which means a Ram 1500 update for 2015, a 2500/3500 refresh for 2016, a major update for the Ram 1500 in 2017 and in 2018 for the 2500/3500.

-Hitting the coming EPA corporate average fuel economy targets will be difficult without hybrid technology for the Ram 1500 pickup, but it won't be impossible, Hegbloom said. He added that Ram is comfortable focusing on technology to hit those numbers instead of doing something customers aren't asking for, like making trucks out of aluminum. "Although aluminum is a good manufacturing play for fuel economy, we're shooting to hit our targets with technology," he said.

-Hegbloom is happy with Ram's strong sales showing, likely to be up more than 20 percent over last year by the end of the year; he's also happy with the "conquest-to-defection" rates that Ram has been pulling from Ford and Chevy.

-As to how long people will be willing to pay north of $50,000 and even $60,000 for pickups, Hegbloom said that Ram has seen astonishing growth in this niche during the last seven years on both the light-duty and heavy-duty sides and is likely to see high-end trucks grow even more, so Ram will keep the pipelines full.

PickupTrucks.com

I was worried about the supply of aluminum dwindling but then I realized we are talking about Ford so it will be getting recycled pretty fast