FCA Defends Ram Diesel Take-Rate
Thu, 2015-07-02 07:30

General Motors has questioned Fiat Chrysler’s claimed 20% take-rate for the Ram EcoDiesel, and FCA says the rampup continues. An FCA executive says production bottlenecks at the plant in Cento, Italy, have been fixed to free up additional volume for the engine.

At last week’s ride-and-drive media event in Milford, MI, to spotlight the new 2.8L diesel 4-cyl. coming to the U.S. in the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups later this year, a General Motors staffer called into question Fiat Chrysler’s claims to have reached a 20% take-rate for the diesel 3.0L V-6 in the Ram 1500 pickup.

“Our numbers say it’s about half that,” the employee told WardsAuto.

For decades, WardsAuto has tracked this data, so this is what our spreadsheets say: Through April, which marks the halfway point of the 2015 model year, FCA has installed the EcoDiesel V-6 in 14.4% of the 257,902 4x2 and 4x4 Ram 1500 pickups.

The 4x2 installation rate is 8.4%, while 17.2% of 4x4s get the diesel, according to our data.

It’s possible GM’s skepticism is based on ’14 model-year results. The diesel went on sale late in the first quarter of 2014 in the Ram and achieved a mere 4.2% penetration rate when the model year ended in September.

But by that point, FCA says its internal data shows a number of customers had come to embrace the new engine, which represents the first light-duty diesel in a fullsize pickup. For its torque, efficiency and smoothness, it won Ward’s 10 Best Engines trophies in 2014 and 2015.

Last September, following brisk demand, officials said FCA would ramp up the mix to 20% from the initial plan of 10%, applied to ’15 production.

“To date, the EcoDiesel mix varies by month, but we’re generally running 15% to 18% (although we hit 30% in November),” writes Dave Elshoff, head of Ram Truck media relations, in an email to WardsAuto. He describes EcoDiesel demand as “overwhelming.”

For calendar 2015, Elshoff says the EcoDiesel take-rate is running at 18%. “We’re still ramping up to the 20% goal, but overall Ram 1500 sales keep increasing and make for a moving target,” he writes.

The engine comes from a VM Motori plant in Cento, Italy, owned by Fiat Chrysler.

Bob Lee, head of global powertrain coordination for FCA, says production bottlenecks at the plant have been fixed to free up additional volume and meet demand for the engine, which also appears in the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Maserati Ghibli sedan.

The Grand Cherokee got the engine first, several months before the Ram, largely because FCA officials noted BMW and Mercedes-Benz had achieved high diesel take-rates for their X5 and M-Class CUVs, respectively. In 2012, the X5 diesel reached its highest penetration rate in the U.S., 23.1%. Through May of this year, 13.1% of X5s have been delivered with the diesel.

“They were sold out of diesels for the X5. They couldn’t make enough of them,” Lee tells WardsAuto at FCA’s media ride-and-drive last week at the Chelsea, MI, proving grounds.

“We looked at that and said, ‘We can do this with Grand Cherokee,’” he says. “We made a very credible product, next to the X5. News reports were quite glowing about the package. Yet the sales rates never even approached what X5 did.”

FCA executives were shocked several months later when initial response to the same engine in the Ram was strong. “It’s been going up and up and up,” Lee says. “I don’t know where the limit is.”
Popularity Comes With Price

Most surprising is the truck engine’s popularity given its cost premium. A Ram EcoDiesel can be had for $31,000, which includes a $4,700 line item for the V-6 to cover, among other things, the cost of selective catalytic reduction technology to scrub oxides of nitrogen emissions. The system requires the addition of a urea-based fluid at routine maintenance intervals.

Even more surprising, EcoDiesel Ram customers are opting for well-equipped models. “The higher the trim, the faster they turn,” Elshoff writes.

Diesel fuel generally has been more expensive than regular unleaded gasoline, although many stations in Southeast Michigan were selling the two fuels at the same price this past weekend ($2.99).

The cost premium for the EcoDiesel, as well as the moving target of fuel prices, has not discouraged consumers, and Lee is trying to figure out why.

“It’s not clear to me what people think and how people make those decisions,” he says. “There’s not an economic argument for the difference, at least for a normal person. Maybe if you have a very strange business where you put hundreds of thousands of miles on your vehicles, then you can maybe see a payback.”

But Lee says customers like the package, its abundant torque and its quiet demeanor. Plus, its EPA-rated highway fuel economy of 29 mpg (8.1 L/100 km) leads all pickup trucks, compacts included.

“The whole thing somehow sells them,” Lee says of Ram EcoDiesel buyers.

For the record, diesel engines were installed in 3.9% of light vehicles in the U.S. in model-year 2014, down slightly from 4.3% in 2013 but up from 2.7% in 2010, according to WardsAuto data.

Thai Duramax Diesels Bound for North America
WardsAuto
Alan Harman
Mon, 2015-07-06 13:23

GM Thailand begins production of 2.8L Duramax 4-cyl. turbodiesel engines slated for export to North America for use in U.S. and Canadian versions of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickup trucks.

Speaking at the event to celebrate the start of production for the North American-bound engines, GM Thailand and Chevrolet Sales Thailand Managing Director Marcos Purty says exporting the engines to the U.S. increases the Thai output and improves GM Powertrain Thailand’s economies of scale.

Engine shipments from Rayong to North America will start in the third quarter. Installation in the Colorado and Canyon at GM’s plant in Wentzville, MO, will begin later this fall.

The 2.8L is based on the same Duramax installed in the Colorado pickup and Trailblazer SUV available in Thailand and the region, says Watcharin Sayamrattanakit, GM Powertrain Thailand manufacturing director.

“This is solid proof and recognition that our product, built right here in Thailand to the highest standards, is of world-class quality and good enough to be in demand in one of the most competitive and demanding automotive markets in the world,” Sayamrattanakit says in a statement.

U.S. and Canadian customers will get the second-generation Duramax engines, which were engineered in Europe and the U.S. Because of emissions requirements and operating conditions in the U.S. and Canada, the export Duramax 2.8L will produce 181 hp and 369 lb.-ft. (500 Nm) of torque.

The engine features a water-cooled, variable-geometry turbocharger and common-rail fuel delivery system capable of injection pressures of up to 29,000 psi (2,000 bar). It also features an electronic engine control module fully developed by GM.

A balance shaft counter-rotates to cancel out vibrations and enhance smoother and quieter operation at all engine speeds, GM says.

In addition to compliance with U.S. emission standards, the engine is Euro-4 compliant and can be upgraded to meet Euro-5 and Euro-6 standards.

The first-generation engine started regular production in Thailand in 2011. The second-generation was launched in 2013, and GM Powertrain Thailand builds both the 2.8L and 2.5L variants. The Australian and South American markets also receive the engines.

The $200 million facility represents GM’s most significant powertrain investment in Southeast Asia. It is GM’s first diesel powertrain facility in Thailand and the Southeast Asian region and the first powertrain facility in the world to manufacture the 4-cyl. family of Duramax engines.

UPDATE from Wards Auto:

Through June, FCA says the diesel makes up 18% of the Ram 1500s shipped from the plant but only 12% of the retail mix. The automaker says a 20% retail mix remains in sight. But it should have been achieved by now.

A few weeks ago, we reported on contrasting data from General Motors and FCA US relative to the take-rate for the 3.0L EcoDiesel V-6 in the Ram 1500, an engine offered since early 2014.

The matter has not been sorted out, but additional information warrants a second look.

FCA announced last September it was ramping up production of the diesel engine at the VM Motori plant in Cento, Italy, to achieve a 20% mix, double the initial expectation for the U.S. market’s first modern diesel in a light-duty fullsize pickup.

By the end of last November, FCA said the plants in Warren, MI, and Saltillo, Mexico, would be shipping more trucks with the diesel engine as part of the capacity increase.

An FCA executive recently told WardsAuto that manufacturing bottlenecks in the Cento plant were addressed, freeing up the additional engines to meet what was described as overwhelming demand for the diesel truck.

Still, several months later, a nagging disconnect remains between installation at the plant level and delivery to paying customers.

Through June, FCA says the diesel makes up 18% of the Ram 1500s shipped from the plants but only 12% of the retail mix. “Retail sales (20% goal) will fall in line with shipments once we can reach target stock levels for the dealers,” writes Ram spokesman Dave Elshoff in an email to WardsAuto.
Nagging disconnect remains between installation of 3.0L diesel at plants and delivery to paying customers.

OK, so the 20% mix figure is a projection, a target, even though it should have been met by now. The discrepancy in the data suggests a lot more Ram diesels have been coming out of the plant than have been ending up in driveways, for several months now.

If that weren’t the case, the retail mix would be well above 12%. As of April, registration data for purchased vehicles was even lower, reflecting less than 9% of Ram 1500 buyers were picking the diesel.

Check the inventory of Ram dealers, and you’ll find lots of Ram 1500s available, especially with the 5.7L Hemi V-8 or the 3.6L Pentastar gasoline V-6, but just a smattering of diesel V-6s in stock.

At Brighton Chrysler in Southeast Michigan, five of 34 Ram 1500s in stock have the diesel V-6. Rebates and discounts for all the Rams are generous, topping $10,000. At some dealerships, the most popular engine, the Hemi V-8, comes with an extra $1,000 off compared with the diesel.

“Everyone wants the diesel, but not everyone wants to pay for the diesel,” Wes Hellmuth, sales manager at Brighton Chrysler, tells WardsAuto. Relative to the Pentastar gasoline V-6, the diesel can cost many customers an extra $140 per month.

Hellmuth says it’s difficult for dealers to get their hands on diesel Rams. “If I had my choice, I would have a mix that is 50% Pentastar and the rest split evenly between Hemi and the diesel V-6,” he says.

Dealers such as Brighton Chrysler with a customer base that leans heavily toward leasing (as high as 70%) generally will move fewer diesels because most customers will find purchasing them makes more sense financially.

The $4,770 cost premium is steep but can be whittled if a customer logs lots of miles and maximizes its segment-leading 29-mpg (8.1 L/100 km) highway fuel-economy rating.

“The fuel economy is the biggest draw” for the diesel, says Jeff Holtsclaw, a salesman at Zeigler Chrysler in Grandville in Southwestern Michigan. “When gas prices rise, that’s when a lot of people start looking at the diesel.”

With diesel fuel prices at near-parity with gasoline, the Ram 1500 diesel should be moving briskly off showroom lots.

If the gap still exists between sales and production at the end of this year, FCA will have some explaining to do.

As an aside:
The reason I got my '06 CRD 4X4 Liberty after I got rid of my '97 CTD Ram is because I couldn't get get a Duramax H3.

I don't do off road anymore since I retired my '77 Powerwagon, so I don't need a hardcore 4X4. I admit that all I need is the un-blinged mallninja that I can trust to get me through the snow, and haul some people/stuff in safety.

I want the diesel, and these Libertys were all that were available to fill that slot at the pricepoint.

I still don't see much alternative.

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'06 Liberty Limited CRD.
149K miles.
- Timing belt done.
- Weeks Kit Stage 1.
- Weeks Kit Stage 2.
- JBA 2.5 inch Silver kit and UCAs installed at 125K miles.
- Weeks supplied Samco Intercooler Hoses and clamps.

Waiting for time, limber fingers, and good weather to do my HDS Model 001 Thermostat unit swap.

I'm interested in how the diesel Colorado/Canyon will be in real life.

I currently have a 99 Ford Ranger, so it would be a similar segment. The Ranger does everything I need a truck to do, as I don't tow anything. Just Home Depot, dump, etc. It's getting kinda long in the tooth, but it's fairly easy to work on. Sooner or later I'm going to have to replace it and the diesel Colorado/Canyon are on the list.

I looked at a Ram Ecodiesel and I'm not sure a full-size is how I want to go. The build quality of the one I looked at wasn't stellar either, but the size just seemed a bit big for my needs. Still, the darn thing gets much better MPG than the 3.0 I have in the Ranger. Newer tech, diesel, and a worn out V-6 in the Ford doesn't make it that shocking. Hell, the gas F-150 gets better mileage than my old Ranger.

I'll be interested to see if the Colorado/Canyon and Ram sell well as it may force Ford to introduce a half-ton Diesel. A diesel Tacoma would be nice as an option as well, but I'm not holding my breath.

Ross The Toyota HiLux (the Tacoma basically just the overseas version) is sold as a diesel. Top Gear used a modified one for their Arctic Expedition special

http://www.toyota.com.au/hilux

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2006 Liberty CRD Limited Deep Beryl Green Metallic Clear coat, Fumoto valve, MH ProVent (removed), GDE Eco tune,
OME 790/948 springs, OME struts, OME N132L shocks, Jeepin by Al A-arms, Hercules Terra Trac AT2 245/75R16
Weeks Stage 1 EGR delete, 5 volt steel glow plugs

Like Toyota, Ford makes new Ranger trucks with diesel engines. They are available for sale everywhere except North America.

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U.S. Army Retired

Yep, my shop truck in Trinidad and Tobago was my choice of a Hilux or Frontier. They both were equipped with 4 cylinder CRD engines and got awesome fuel economy and great power. The manual 5 speeds were flawless. I dream of the day our pathetic govt allows these great trucks and engines into our country!

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2016 Ram 2500 4x4, 6.7 Cummins, 68RFE, Crew Cab
1995 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4, 5.9 Cummins, 47RH, Reg Cab
2005 Liberty CRD,fixed the rockers and a couple more things,GDE Hot tune,Weeks Stage 1 and 2 EGR delete,Hot Diesel solutions Tstat assembly(wonderful heat!), ARP studs, OME 1.5" lift.....thanks Seth!

I was excited about the Diesel Colorado, but after I checked one out(non-diesel) I was not so impressed. The thing was cramped inside, it felt like sitting in my 07 legacy which is small, and it was priced similar to what I paid for my F150 Supercrew which is like driving in a jet powered living room.

The ecodiesel ram i think is a better choice but it seems like a lot of vehicle for that motor. I did drive an ecodiesel GC limited and it was solid. It was a little bit faster than my hot tune liberty.

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2006 CRD - GTB2056 turbo by Dieselguy86, Eco Trans Tune, Lift Pump, Week's, HDS Tstat, Racor Filter, ARP's, OME 790's+Top Plate, JBA 2.5", JBA UCA, Moab's+265/75R16, ARB Bull Bar, 4.10's, TrueTracs

Cant speak to the quality of the new Eco Diesel, but we have a year old Ram 1500 here at work and it's an unreliable pile. Been to the shop 4 or 5 times, usually for several days to a week. We are continuing to buy Chevys (and they're far from perfect believe me).

Toyota diesel Hilux may well be the best truck ever built. Of course we can't get them, all domestic truck manufacturing would be out of business in a couple years.

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The fuel savings from my engine modifications should pay for those modifications in about 250,000 miles

Side the torque, I guess a gasoline hiux/Tacoma is way better in us than a diesel, with all the epa junk diesels have these days.

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2005 kj CRD, samco, suncoast tc, provent, Kennedy lift pump, GDE ECO full torque, 2nd gen filter head, 245/70/16 a/t tires, mopar light bar, fumoto oil valve, OEM Skid Plates, ARB Front bumper and HD OME, tru cool LPD47391 40k GVW tranny cooler (stock cooler delete), FF Dynamics e-fan and shroud, rocker arms replaced, HDS2 190F thermostat.