Dodge Brings a Segment Buster to the Commercial Market
Remember the van craze of the mid-'70s? We called them shaggin' wagons; a term in the naivety of youth I actually assumed had something to do with the shag carpets that lined the customized vehicles' floor, side panels and roof. Well don't worry, despite a return to '70s style clothing that's one fad that is most likely not returning, at least not en masse
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| Dodge's now defunct Ram Van, despite a mild facelift and taillight update over the last decade, has pretty much been the same over the past 30 years. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler) |
The Dodge full-size van was one of the favorites to personalize, along with Ford's Econoline and GM's Chevy and GMC full-size vans. Ford has regularly updated its E-Series while GM's vans went through radical changes a few years back. Dodge's Ram Van, despite a mild facelift and taillight update over the last decade, looked much the same as it did throughout the '70s, '80s and the majority of the '90s before being axed from the lineup at the end the 2003 model year.
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| With the retirement of the Ram Van, Dodge needed a van to recapture the lucrative full-size market, so they turned to the Mercedes-Benz commercial division . (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
Why did Dodge let go its full-size van after such a long and productive tenure? Two reasons really. Full-size vans gave way to minivans as far as personal transport conveyances in the mid-'80s, making the large Ram Van less popular than it once was. Now that full-size vans are mostly used for commercial purposes, being the mainstay of everything from courier companies, airport shuttles and appliance repair shops, among others, it was time to rethink the functionality of the status quo.
It wasn't as if Dodge could just walk away from the lucrative commercial business, especially after factoring in that the traditional creature comforts and expensive safety features that its minivan has to include aren't necessarily needed in the commercial segment, as well as doing the numbers on the earnings potential of vehicles that oftentimes have shelf-lives in the decades instead of years. The full-size van business can be profitable.