The award-winning Ram Truck range will be available in Australia and New Zealand for the first time with full ADR volume compliance standards from the third quarter of 2015.
Fiat Chrysler New Zealand, the joint venture company owned by Australian businessman Clyde Campbell and New Zealand businessman Neville Crichton, has signed a contract with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to be the official factory-appointed importer and converter of the legendary Ram truck range. The first products will go on sale in September this year, when full details of the local range along with prices will be announced.
The Ram Truck range, or full size utes as they are known here, are made in left-hand drive only and, therefore cannot be sold in Australia, and only in very limited numbers in New Zealand. Fiat Chrysler New Zealand will undertake the conversion to right hand drive and to meet all the legal requirements for them to be sold in unlimited volume in Australia and New Zealand.
“Clearly there is a demand for this type of vehicle in Australia and New Zealand in both the private and commercial markets with only availability restricting sales,” says Clyde Campbell, who set up Fiat Chrysler New Zealand two years ago to import and distribute Fiat Chrysler products in New Zealand.
“Until now the only way to own one in Australia was through a low volume aftermarket conversion. Our vehicles are being developed with the full blessing of FCA’s Ram division. They have worked closely with our engineers to produce a vehicle that is as close to an official factory right hand drive vehicle as it can be without it having actually run down the factory production line.”
With the appointment of Fiat Chrysler New Zealand as the official Ram importer it has enabled Fiat Chrysler New Zealand to achieve Full Volume Conversion for the Ram range, also a first for Ram in Australia. This level of certification sets Fiat Chrysler NZ above and beyond all other Ram converters and places Ram trucks from Fiat Chrysler New Zealand on a par with all other vehicles sold in the mass vehicle market in Australia and New Zealand.
The model range has still to be determined, but will feature a number of variants from the Ram truck range that includes the light-duty 1500, all the way up to the heavy-duty 5500, but with initial focus on the 2500 and 3500.
Both 4x2 and 4x4 models are available, and engines range from petrol 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 and 5.7-litre Hemi V8s through to 6.7-litre Cummins diesels.
