One Ram van down, two to go

With the Ram ProMaster shown, one of three major Fiat/Iveco vans has been shown. Another one, the Fiat Doblo, will get minimal changes for North American sale; it is likely to be made in Turkey and sold here as the Ram ProMaster City.

Then there’s the third — the one that would compete directly with [brand of the month] Sprinter and the large Ford and Nissan vans that have sold in other nations, and are just making their way here now. The Iveco Daily is reportedly being reworked to be a fiercer Sprinter competitor; most likely, Ram and Iveco engineers are working together on the project. It may well be the vehicle in the photo, towards the back, with what seems like a more pronounced, chromed Ram grille.

Ram engineers would likely be quite happy to get some of their own back from Mercedes, whose name is now on the Sprinter in place of Dodge and Freightliner. More to the point, though, Ram is trying to assemble a full, complete fleet of commercial vehicles to enable it to be a single source of vehicles for any company, ranch, individual, or small government. That would address a competitive disadvantage against Ford, which can currently supply just about any kind of vehicle, so that fleet buyers can have a single vendor to deal with, regardless of the merits of any particular car or truck.

While ProMaster is a versatile, efficient series, there are markets that require a higher payload and larger interior than it can handle; that is where Daily comes in. (Is that a Daily in the photo, or just a high-roof ProMaster? Either way, a Ram version of the Daily has been announced.) (Thanks, “jeepnut.”)