1500

Make
Ram
Segment
Sports Car

At first, some were surprised Ram decided to continue selling its previous generation 1500 full-size pickup truck alongside its redesigned successor. Dubbed the "1500 Classic," the previous-gen pickup is still a perfectly capable vehicle and helps Ram with one major thing at the moment: pricing. See, the new Ram 1500 is more expensive, beginning at $33,190 while the 1500 Classic can be had for as little as $27,395. Both vehicles, especially the former, become far more expensive once the features are added. Combined with various other incentives, the 1500 Classic has been a hot-seller and it's not going anywhere.

According to Automotive News, Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley confirmed the Ram 1500 Classic will stick around for the foreseeable future. "The (sales) strategy has worked well for us," he said. "The Classic is what I would call the real traditional workman's truck."

The Classic will also help enable Ram to make sales gains in the highly lucrative government and commercial vehicle sales fleets. Ram dealerships also like having two full-size trucks to sell, one of which can be marketed as a bargain. Not every buyer can or wants to pony up the additional money for the redesigned 1500, which Ram wholeheartedly admits was pushed further upmarket in terms of overall refinement and additional luxury. Ram's two-truck strategy has already paid off; it officially surpassed the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 to become the number two best-selling full-size pickup in the first quarter of this year. Number one remains the Ford F-Series.

Chevrolet obviously didn't take kindly to those results, quickly pointing out that Ram is, in a way, "cheating" because it combines 1500 Classic and the new 1500 sales into a single figure. Still, a win's a win. Based on this, Ram has concluded its decision to keep the previous-gen 1500 in production was a smart and very profitable decision.