Chrysler's Ram Brand Adds Commercial Truck Unit

Chrysler Group LLC has set up Ram Commercial, a unit of its Ram truck brand, to begin selling heavy-duty pickup trucks next spring to fleet and small businesses. Commercial vans will follow.

The new unit will have its own staff for design, marketing and product development.

Chrysler plans to publicly unveil the revamped Ram 3500, 4500 and 5500 chassis cab trucks at the Texas State Fair on Thursday. The company plans to reveal more details about the vehicles at the Detroit auto show in January. That's also when it will begin producing the trucks at its plant in Saltillo, Mexico.

Next year the new commercial vehicle unit is likely to also begin selling two Ram-badged vans based on models developed by parent Fiat SpA. A version Fiat's Ducato fullsize commercial van will be made in Saltillo.

Chrysler plans to import a Turkish-made, Ram-badged version of the Fiat Doblo small commercial van.