RAM's Revival is a Masterclass in Marketing

Issue #129

Happy 4th of July!

We hope you have a great weekend!

Market News

• The Camaro is dead, but GM keeps selling it. Here's how. 

• These three brands are rated as the most problematic. Check out what they have in common.

• The EU warns the German government not to expect this outcome from tariff negotiations.

• Toyota invests millions in a proving ground. Here's where it is.

• Chevy EV sales are doing great. The recipe? Giving people what they want, and it's this.

• Tesla has a big problem, and it's not Musk. Here's more on it. 

• The German court suspends the trial of the Volkswagen CEO linked to Dieselgate. Here's why. 

• Trump's tax plan hurts Tesla but helps these two EV brands.

• Sales of Honda's only American EV soared by a lot. We mean a lot. Here's how much. 

• Here's how you kill a brand, using Jaguar as an example.

Safety and Recalls

• Nissan recalls more than 440,000 vehicles because of this critical issue.

• VW urges the owners of 17,000 of these vehicles to stop using the passenger seat.

• Ford recalls 200,000 vehicles due to a software glitch that can lead to crashes.

Car Culture

• This Sheriff vowed to end street racing. Then, he went street racing. 

• The Nissan Z crushes the Supra, but this sportscar still reigns supreme.

• Here are the cars with the best interiors of all time. What do you think?

• How much would taking a taxi from New York to LA cost? You don't have to do it. Here's the answer. 

• What happens when you uncover a Chevy Vega that has been in a capsule for 50 years? Here's the story.

• Here's how one license plate led to cracking down on the biggest crime ring in recent history.

• Here are ten Mercedes-Benz AMGs that you can buy for less than a Honda Accord.

• The Dodge Dart might come back to haunt Dodge. Here's why.

• Can anyone narrow down and find the 10 greatest American cars? MotorTrend tried, and here's the list.

• Forza Motorsports' future might hang in the balance after Microsoft laid off thousands. Here's more on it. 

Video Of The Week

Here's an icon of German descent, and it's a bulletproof vehicle. (Not literally, so don't shoot at it).

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In The Know

How RAM reinvented itself, with one move. 

Out of the Big 3, Dodge/RAM had always been the least competitive brand, consistently failing to catch up in sales.

In 2023, as this data shows, it sold almost 144,000 RAM Pickup models, which was 100,000 less than the second-place Silverado and only 4,000 units more than the Sierra. 

There's no other way of putting it: the company struggled. Plus, it seemed a replay of 2009, when Chrysler declared bankruptcy. 

You can read more about why Chrysler went bankrupt and how the US automotive industry almost disappeared here.

Ironically, at the time, the decision was made to separate the Dodge and RAM names to deepen both brands' identities with consumers. For RAM, it was an excellent move, as you can read here. 

Fast forward to 2022, and RAM is once again struggling, but this time under the leadership of Stellantis. It was this same leadership that almost killed it. 

Quality issues had hampered the brand. RAM had always dominated the JD Power quality rankings, but in 2022, it experienced a significant decline in quality. You can read more about it here. 

We had previously written about RAM's quality struggles. You can read about them here.  

This, of course, wasn't happening only with RAM. Stellantis, as a company, faced serious quality challenges with Jeep and Dodge as well. You can read more about this here. 

Then, to make matters worse, RAM had announced that it would kill off the V8 two years later.

This seemed counterintuitive for a truck brand, but RAM was responding to regulatory pressure to reduce emissions. You can read more about this here. 

However, RAM's decision to discontinue the V8 option had a much more profound impact on the company. After all, Ford and Toyota were also responding to pressure, as those companies dropped their V8 options. 

GM is the only brand to still manage to produce V8s at a considerable pace. Still, it is now facing a massive quality issue with them. You can read more about it here. 

Not having a V8 meant that the cheapest truck RAM had to offer had disappeared. This was the truck of the people, and the replacement lacked the personality, as this review highlights. 

Therefore, it came as no surprise that RAM has experienced a consistent decline in sales since 2022.

Here's where you might be wondering, "where does the genius marketing move come in?"

To celebrate the country's independence, RAM announced that the RAM 1500 would once again feature a V8 engine. People loved it, and in 24 hours, the company had 10,000 orders. 

Such a response can only mean one thing: RAM played it right. 

This move follows an excellent ad by the company's CEO, apologizing for not listening to customers, that you can watch here. 

And all you need to do is give people what they want. They're going back to what they did well: a solid, powerful truck that has an American heart and a V8. Now, the challenge is keeping up with demand and customer satisfaction.