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A Face Only a Mother Could Love...

7K views 34 replies 17 participants last post by  mrneuro 
#1 ·
I'm extremely disappointed in the looks of the new Ram ProMaster... In almost all other aspects it seems like an excellent vehicle that promises to be able to go toe to toe with the competition's best vans, but it looks like something Daimler would come up with; a hack job. I'm talking shades of the ridiculously oversized black hubcaps on the later Sprinters hack job. I understand that form follows function in work vans, and looks aren't really much of a concern, but it looks like they popped the Fiat badge off with a screwdriver, cut the plastic on the front a little wider (haven't we gotten to the point where we can make plastics in something OTHER than matte black/grey?) and glued a Ram badge on. It looks terrible, in my opinion.

Seems to me that Ram could have done a tie-in with the recent popularity of "retro" styling and reviving old nameplates and call it the A1500/2500/3500, the A representing a "new start" for the Ram van line. They could have styled it after the old A vans from the '60s, which were very powerful sellers for Dodge, and splashed "RAM" across the hood in huge letters where the original said "DODGE". It would help to define a brand that people are still confused about, made the van look less European (to me, current European styling, especially with fleet vehicles like vans, seems to be what would be considered "futuristic" in the mid '90s, it's awful), and would have given Ram a distinct, positive, current image while tying back to a uniquely American (the new van is distinct... but not in a good way, IMO). I know that there would be extra issues with producing and styling a new front end, but I think it would attract people to the product and would give Ram a better image as an American brand rather than an American brand owned by Europeans.
 
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Discussion starter · #16 ·
Right, but they could do styling even keeping that headlight placement. I agree that form definitely follows function in the commercial market sector, but there may very well be people out there who option one of these out to what they need and find it's basically the same as another brand (I don't know what the pricing is on any commercial vans, to be fair, but it must happen). Then it comes down to picky little things like styling, and in my book, if I had to pick between two otherwise identical models, one that looks like the new van and one that looks like a cool neo-retro A-van, I'm going to pick the second. Plus, there are people who factor looks in higher on the "needs" list. For me, the van is plenty functional, it has an excellent powertrain and capacity, so make it look a little less ugly. Nobody else is doing a throwback work van. If you can do that, and do it in a functional way (which the original design was to start with), you generate chatter, which generates interest, which generates sales.
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
Stratuscaster said:
Something tells me that there aren't that many companies sitting around wishing some automaker would produce a "throwback work van."
No, there probably aren't. But the features that companies are specifically sitting around waiting for have already been done. For example, Nissan and Ford both offer doors that have hinges that allow them to open out wide, just like the new Ram. So that's really not a deciding factor, because three different companies have it. People who were sitting around waiting for FWD powertrains now have the Transit Connect, or they can wait for the full-size Transit, OR they can wait for the Ram, so it's not a selling feature any more. If the van has unique styling, it's something nobody else has. It's like buying a computer: You can spec computers out to whatever you want, pretty much, and you're bound to have a few that come within the same price point. Then it comes down to piddly little things, like what it looks like. Because the market is so competitive, the prices and specs on the vehicles are going to be very close if not identical, and if one manufacturer has a revolutionary feature, most of the others are going to come out with something similar to stay competitive.
 
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