On the first weekend of its availability for dealer pre-orders, the Ram 1500 diesel truck brought in 8,000 requests from marketers across the country, Chrysler Group has reported. Of the trucks ordered, about five percent had already been pre-sold to customers, sight unseen. With the first V-6 EcoDiesel trucks going under construction only late last month, Chrysler is confident that it "did the right thing with this truck," executives told Automotive News.

The 240-horsepower 3.0-liter Fiat-made engine is good for 420 lb-ft of torque, and is priced almost $3,000 higher than a Ram 1500 with a 5.7-liter Hemi V8. The brand expects it to account for approximately 30 percent of their truck sales. With Ford still denying a 2018 diesel for the F-150, and Chevy, Nissan and Toyota only hinting or working on their Silverado, Titan and Tundra diesel V8 versions, Ram seems to have this market cornered for at least the next couple of years. And if upcoming months follow the trend of the first weekend's numbers, Chrysler is going to be very happy it went diesel.