I was looking at the sales numbers for trucks in '05. GM took the truck crown, selling around 930,000 with gmc's and chevy's combined. ford selling 900,000. I noticed how the honda ridgeline (C&D truck of the year) was a sales disappointment. (haha) But i also noticed that dodge only sold around half as many trucks as GM and ford. That stunned me because of the hype on the hemi and the diesel market being practically based around the Cummins engine . That makes me wonder how dodge has escaped the big job cuts and debts recently. Before the new addition of the 300C and the Magnum/charger, dodge didn't have any cars selling worth a damn either. Have their minivan sales been bailing them out in the past 10 years? Dodge is way behind in the gas mileage game on their trucks, but i still see a million of them where i live. btw, my friends 05 hemi 1500 4x4 gets 11mpg in the city and 16-17 highway. my cousins 03 GMC 1500 extended cab Z71 gets 16 city and 19-20 highway and is just as quick as that hemi.
anyway, i was just wondering if anybody had any info on how dodge is making it...or are they?

 

lean operation. not to mention it was gutted even further when ze germans came to power.

 

You should have seen Dodge about 15 years ago. Those real old looking pickups they had were so far behind GM and Ford. Only reason they sold was the Cummins. Maybe 50,000 (est) year sales of trucks then for Dodge.

Plus their car lineup really sucked!

They got lots of german dueche marks to help them out now.

 

Easy.

1. Dodge in the old days was a bit player in the truck market, selling mainly to fleets like the government and military, or commercial buyers more than the general public.

2. The early 90s Kenworth look-alike styling of the new Dodge Rams got the public sector intrested in Dodge trucks... in a huge way.

3. Chrysler has cultivated the Dodge Ram over the years to the point where it's at today. An extremely sucessful and well known truck in the public's eye.

4. Dodge Trucks seem to defy gravity. Despite the general drop in intrest in big trucks the past year, Ram not only is selling as stron as ever, it managed to eke out some record sales numbers at various points over the past year.

5. The profit margins on trucks are so high that you don't need to sell 900,000 per year to make alot of money.

6. Factory capacity is more important than numbers alone. If the plant where the Ram is being made is running at 100% capacity with all 3 shifts, and Ford or GM is running at, say, 75% or even 80% and has a number of people layed off collecting a great portion of their paycheck sitting at home, the Ram is going to make more money selling fewer trucks because the expense of making them is low due to much greater efficientcy in their manufacturing setup.

7. Finally, there is a far greater range of Ford and GM trucks than Dodge has. I'm not talking passenger trucks, I'm talking the heavy comercial trucks, and the partial trucks that go to other manufacturers for special cargo areas. As far as the pickup that you walk into a showroom and buy to use every day to go to work and haul the occasional fishing boat, the Ram's numbers are pretty impressive next to what the copmpetition sells.

So although on paper you may wonder how Dodge is even surviving, between a focus on "street" sales and a highly efficient manufacturing system, they're right on the mark where the other's are having a bumpy ride.

 

they put a HEMI in it..lol

 

Dodge has never tried to make the Ram a sales leader. The idea has always been to make fewer truck and sell them for a PROFIT. Something GM can't seem to do.

 

Doesn't Dodge produce less trucks? Gm may make more but I always see them sitting there while Dodge is selling (around here anyways)
but the Hemi got played out fast.

 

Dodge was the first to be bold...and put 20 inch wheels on their trucks. Then they marketed the crap out of the hemi name.
They also have a big, bolder-esque look, which truck consumers like.

 

well it didnt get played out, its in everyones mind..if its not a hemi its crap..lol

the Hemi name is about where it should be to push a product and sell a few more.

 

yeah i think dodge trucks are pretty hott even though its mopar...but seriously I prolly live closest to the biggest dodge market in the country Dave Smith Motors
in Kellogg Idaho its the largest auto dealership in the us i think pretty sure the dealership consumed a town and turned almost every business into a show room and its a Dodge mainly dealership.....they also sell their cars at like $5,000 below every other dealership...but charge a crapload for used cars. They hadda 2002 Firehawk with 67,000 miles and it had been beat cuz there were dings in the corners the paint was ****ted out in the front and the interior had several rips but they still wanted $26,000 for it go figure ... this was like a year ago though.

 

I fail to see your math.

If GM annually sells over twice as many trucks compared to Dodge(900+k vs. 400k), maybe thats why they have twice as many sitting in stock.

 

How many cars do they have in stock? I've never even heard of Kellogg Idaho.

 

i could swear those numbers i posted were for the street trucks only. from the ranger to the f-350, dakota to ram3500, colorado to silverado 3500. ??? i don't think that includes commercial vehicles such as flat beds, tow trucks, box trucks, etc. and actually, according to the theories economics and business , it's not good for a company to run 100% capacity. overtime pay, more workers needed to hire, etc. it's been a long time since i had the class, but i thought most major corporations in the world try and stay within a few percent of 87% or so. the numbers still stun me, because i thought the dodge trucks were carrying the weight of dodge. from what i've read in the past few years, it sounds like dodge is actually the worst quality of truck of the 3 domestics. if you've ever had the pleasure or working on all 3 makes of trucks, it's be hard to disagree. results have'nt been officially posted, but rough numbers indicate that dodge had the most consumer reported problems in '05. (comparing to the 2 other makes of trucks). I'm not here to bash on dodge, but these sales numbers really surprised me since i see a lot of them on the road.....although i can't really tell if i see a lot of '05 models since they look the same as the previous years. the fords and chevys are a little easier to pick out since they have made changes from the '04 model years.