After emerging from its second existential challenge in the past four decades, one of Chrysler’s first moves was to roll out all-new versions of its heaviest Dodge Ram pickups. Featuring powerful diesel engines, the Ram Heavy Duty models are well-suited for beverage operation roles including vending machine service and event trailer towing duty.

While the debut of the pickups was marked with much fanfare, another change appears to be taking place on the truck side of the company’s business with considerably less publicity. Through its recent history, the “Ram” brand has built such a positive reputation that the new management at Chrysler appears to be ever-so-subtly bringing the Ram moniker from its status as the identifier for a single vehicle line, full-sized pickups, to a new role as the name for a standalone truck division likely to become independent of the company’s Dodge division.

A stable-mate for the pickups under the Ram brand could be a full-sized cargo van adopted from the product line of Chrysler’s latest partner, Italy’s Fiat Group. Fiat already offers a full line of cargo vans in Europe, including the Sprinter-sized Ducato, the Transit Connect-sized Doblo and the minivan-sized Scudo.

Although no firm announcements have been made regarding bringing the Fiat vans stateside, it’s fairly certain that Chrysler’s dealer network won’t be happy about losing the momentum they built around the Sprinter van, so look for the arrival of a Ducato variant as soon as it can be configured to meet North American regulations.

Meanwhile, back in the here-and-now, the new Dodge Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups will lose the abbreviated Quad Cab model in favor of a true crew cab configuration. The regular cab and stretched Mega Cab models are also available. Frame and suspension improvements have raised the maximum GVW to 9,600 pounds on the 2500 models and 12,200 pounds on the 3500 models, with maximum GCW ratings increased to 20,000 pounds and 24,500 pounds, respectively.

From Beverage World March 15, 2010