Day three of my travels at the National Truck and Equipment Association (NTEA) Work Truck Show, and the introductions were non stop. This is a very under reported event in the mainstream media, and even less so within the enthusiast online sites, but it is worthy of coverage by the hoons at Hooniverse. I went to the Ram booth on Tuesday Morning because there were rumors of a new van about to make its worldwide introduction as a Ram. The Truck press was speculating that it was going to be a re-badged Fiat, to compete with the Sprinter or the Transit Connect. We were all dead wrong.


Introducing the Ram C/V, and if you think it looks familiar, well, it is. It is basically a Grand Caravan with plastic composite inserts instead of windows, and a new flat aluminum floor (or later this year, a floor that uses the compartments used for the Stow-N-Go seating in the standard passenger van) for easy cargo loading. The van is powered by a 3.6L V-6 producing 283 HP, and 260 Lb/Ft of torque. There is an 1,800Lb Payload, and a 3,600Lb of towing capacity, with a class III hitch and wiring harness is offered as standard equipment. The GCWR is over 8,700Lbs.

This is a very quick and easy fix for Chrysler to offer a competitor to the Ford Transit Connect, in the short term. The disadvantages to this truck is lack of height (You can stand inside the Transit Connect, not so much in this van), the lack of cargo doors (it uses the same liftgate found on Caravans), and lack of cargo room (although it’s larger than the HHR Cargo Van). The only colors offered include Blue, Black, White and Silver.

This was a very disappointing reveal, but I was there to endure it, unlike some of the other sites reporting about this vehicle. At least I was able to catch a nap…..