While Ford’s Transit Connect sales have been merely decent since the van’s arrival on our shores, Chrysler’s Ram brand is ready to provide competition in the compact European transplant commercial van segment. (Perhaps it hopes just as much as Ford does that Americans will soon take notice.) Today, Ram’s future model took a step toward reality as Fiat signed a letter of intent with TOFAS, the Italian company’s Turkish joint-venture partner responsible for assembly of the Fiat Doblo, for a supply of 190,000 units for export.
We started to expect that the Doblo would arrive in the States as a Ram back in March when we outlined the Chrysler Group’s options for plucking commercial vans from Fiat’s lineup. While larger options like the front-drive Fiat Ducato or the rear-drive Iveco Daily would fill the void left when Mercedes-Benz took back its Sprinter, the company picked the Doblo because of its lower cost and relatively good fuel economy; it’s also a good way to test American reception of Fiat’s commercial vehicles.
Chrysler says that exports of the Doblo will start in early 2013, and in the time in between, TOFAS will invest more than $160 million for the necessary changes for U.S. homologation and customer expectations. We presume that will include some work to redraw the Doblo’s bulbous nose into something more in line with Ram’s other machines, which right now includes just the Ram pickups and a cargo version of the Dodge Caravan. We don’t expect to hear much more about details like engines, variants, and price until that work is done. February’s Chicago auto show is generally regarded as the place to launch commercial products, so perhaps we’ll get a more thorough preview from McCormick Place this winter.
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