CarBrandLogos archive · RAM · 2014

RAMProMaster

A Fiat Ducato in a cowboy hat, and the first front-drive full-size van in America.

Photo: Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in RAM history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the RAM ProMaster, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

2014 Ram 1500 Pro Master Tradesman SWB std roof front

Origins

American commercial vans were rear-wheel drive with a step up into the load bay until this one arrived for 2014. The ProMaster is a rebadged Fiat Ducato, a van built since 1981 by Sevel, the Fiat-PSA joint venture at Val di Sangro, and later by Stellantis. Fiat's ownership of Chrysler gave Ram a European van to sell in place of the Dodge Sprinter it had lost when Daimler and Chrysler separated.

2014 Ram 1500 Pro Master Tradesman SWB std roof front · Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

The attraction is geometry. Front-wheel drive means no propshaft and no live rear axle, so the floor sits low and flat, the walls stand nearly vertical, and a tall van fits inside a normal loading dock. That suited upfitters, delivery fleets and, eventually, a large share of the American camper-van conversion market, which took to the ProMaster because a bed fits across it and a person can stand up inside.

2002-2006 Peugeot Boxer · BarnCas · CC BY-SA 4.0

In production

It has never troubled the Transit for sales, but it gave Ram a real entry in the segment for the first time, and an electric version has since followed.

2009 Peugeot Boxer Professional 74 2.2 · Vauxford · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance