Where Is The Dodge Ram Made? Who Owns Ram? - Vehicle Freak

• Luka Kusic

Updated on June 15, 2022

The Ram Trucks brand has changed its name several times and while many know it’s part of the Dodge fleet, only a few know the full story behind the company. In this article, we’ll go through the history of the RAM company and see how the brand and ownership changed through the years.

Ram Trucks or RAM is currently a division of Stellantis, a multinational automotive corporation formed in 2021 between the American-Italian Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the French PSA Group.

Ram vehicles are produced in two factories in the US, one in Europe, and one in South America.

Who Owns Ram?

When you ask who owns the Ram brand, most of the time you’ll hear it’s Dodge. While that is technically true, by the time Ram Trucks was founded, Dodge was already under the ownership of Chrysler.

To make sense of the rich history of RAM trucks, we’ll have to start at the beginning and work our way towards the present day.

Dodge Brothers Company

Ram trucks have a direct connection to the Dodge Brothers Company, so we’ll start our journey there. In 1900 in Detroit, brothers Horace and John Dodge founded the Dodge Brothers Company.

Henry Ford chose the Dodge brothers to supply his factory with parts for the famous Model A. In fact, the Dodge Brothers Company was making the entire chassis, while Ford handled the body and wheels.

The business grew as the company developed engines for Oldsmobile, then again for Ford. The two brothers established the Dodge Brothers Motor Company in 1913, releasing their first car – Dodge Model 30-35 in 1914.

The Dodge brothers were beating the competition on all fronts, making more durable, reliable, and simply better vehicles than others. They saw success in the military application during the U.S. Mexico Border War and in WW1.

Unfortunately, the golden age ended when the brothers met untimely deaths. John was the first to pass away from pneumonia in 1920, the same year their company ranked 2nd in sales. Horace could never recover from the loss of his brother and passed away in 1921 from cirrhosis.

The Dodge Brothers Company not only lost its owners but was also the main driving force behind the whole organization. Through a series of sales and buyouts, the company finally landed in the hands of the new Chrysler Corporation in 1928 and hasn’t been independent since.

Fargo Trucks

In the hierarchy of the Chrysler Company’s organization, Dodge was in charge of building trucks, but as you saw in the previous section, the Dodge Brothers Company had only built some light trucks for military use prior to the death of the owners.

Fargo Trucks is the real spiritual predecessor to the Ram Trucks. Founded in 1913 as the Fargo Motor Car Company, it was bought by Chrysler in 1928, the same year they acquired Dodge.

The Dodge brand gradually took over the Fargo trucks and absorbed them completely in 1978. From that point until the inception of the Ram Truck Division, all trucks were under the Dodge badge.

Ram Trucks

The Ram Trucks became a spin-off division of Chrysler, branching from Dodge in 2010. The trucks were named Dodge Ram, but the company gradually rebranded to what we know it as today – Ram Trucks or RAM.

The company still keeps the same structure, building trucks and vans, but the ownership of the company has already changed a few times. To understand who really owns Ram Trucks, we have to take a look at its parent company – Chrysler.

Chrysler

The Chrysler company bought out Dodge in 1928 and remained its parent company throughout. However, Chrysler itself has been changing hands quite a bit, through mergers, bankruptcy, buyout of shares, among others.

The company was independent until 1998 when it entered a “merger of equals” with Daimler-Benz to create DaimlerChrysler AG. However, Daimler actually bought out Chrysler, becoming its sole owner. The name was changed again to DaimlerChrysler Motors Company LLC.

In 2007, Daimler Chrysler sold 80.1% of the Chrysler Group to Cerberus Capital Management, an American private equity firm. Daimler AG retained a 19.9% stake, but the company was now rebranded into Chrysler LLC.

The global financial crisis hit the company hard, and it filed for bankruptcy in 2009. The third owner, “New Chrysler” would appear in 2009 and the company was once again rebranded into Chrysler Group LLC.

The following year, Dodge was once again made a separate division to focus on its own brand identity and make Ram trucks.

However, the change of hands was far from over, as Fiat bought out shares kept by the US Treasury in 2011, and became the sole owner by buying out the rest in 2014. Now named Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the FCA was

The final merger happened in May of 2021. The Stellantis N.V. corporation formed in a 50-50 merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the PSA Group.

Summary

Ram Trucks are now a division of Stellantis multinational corporation that consists of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the French PSA Group (Peugeot S.A.). While it has a historical connection to the Fargo Trucks and Dodge, the current Ram division shares no ties with Dodge.

Where Are Ram Trucks Made?

The production of Ram Trucks takes place in four locations:

• Warren Truck Assembly, Warren, Michigan, United States.
• Saltillo Truck Assembly, Saltillo, Mexico.
• Tofas, Bursa, Turkey.
• Stellantis factory in Brazil.

The factory in Warren has been founded in 1938, originally used by Dodge to produce the Fargo trucks. Currently, the Warren plant produces the Ram 1500 series in all crew cab and double cab configurations for the global market. The exception is the Ram 1500 Laramie, which is produced both in Warren and in Mexico.

The Saltillo factory is in charge of manufacturing almost all of the Ram trucks, DX Chassis Cabs, and the ProMaster van. The plant has received numerous awards for its production quality and has been recognized as the best factory of the Chrysler group.

Vehicles produced in the Saltillo factory are:

• Ram 1500, all regular cabs for global sales, and 1500 Laramie for the Mexican market.
• Ram 2500 in all configurations for the global market.
• Ram 3500 in all configurations for the global market.
• Ram 4500 in all configurations for the global market.
• Ram 5500 in all configurations for the global market.
• DX Chassis Cab for the Mexican and Canadian market.
• Ram ProMaster.

The factory located in turkey produces vehicles for the European market, but the Ram ProMaster City built in Bursa is imported into North America. The Brazilian factory focuses exclusively on supplying the South American market with Ram vehicles.

What Brands Are Owned By The Stellantis group?

Stellantis group is one of the largest auto manufacturers in the world, with a total of 14 subdivisions that manufacture passenger and commercial vehicles. Abarth is the only exception, and represents an in-house tuning company.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles group has several famous car brands under its umbrella:

• Fiat
• Chrysler
• Dodge
• Fiat Professional
• Jeep
• Ram
• Alfa Romeo
• Abarth
• Lancia
• Maserati

Peugeot Société Anonyme (PSA) group owns the following international brands:

• Citroen
• Peugeot
• DS
• Vauxhall-Opel

FAQs

Is Ram owned by Jeep?

Ram is not owned by Jeep, the two companies operate as subsidiaries of the Fiat Chrysler Automotives group. In the company’s hierarchy, the two brands are equal.

Is Ram made by Dodge?

Ram used to be made by Dodge, but Ram Trucks separated into an independent brand when Fiat bought out Chrysler in 2009.

What company owns Dodge and RAM?

Both companies are owned by the Stellantis group, consisting of Fiat Chrysler Automotives, and the PSA Group.

Is Dodge still owned by Chrysler?

On paper, Dodge is still a subsidiary of Chrysler, but the Chrylser in the original sense doesn’t exist anymore. The most accurate answer is that Dodge is owned by the PSA Group or just Fiat Chrysler Automotives.

Are RAM trucks American-made?

Besides the RAM 1500 manufactured in Warren, Michigan, all Ram trucks are built in the Saltillo facility in Mexico and brought over to the US.

Who owns Fiat Chrysler?

The questions of ownership become very complicated once we start talking about multi-billion dollar companies. Fiat Chrysler Automotive is owned by:

• The Vanguard Group
• Exor
• UBS
• Tiger Management

These conglomerates have their own shareholders, but we’ll keep that out to avoid confusion.

Is Dodge a part of Ford?

Dodge was never a part of Ford and if anything, Ford was a part of Dodge in a brief period where the Dodge brothers owned 10% of the Ford company, signed off to them by Henry Ford himself.

Is Jaguar owned by Ford?

Jaguar was owned by Ford between 1999 and 2008, but it has been sold off to Tata Motors in 2008.

Summary

The Ram Trucks company has a rich and interesting history with branching paths of the Dodge Brothers, Fargo Trucks, and Chrysler all coming together. Currently, the company is owned by Stellantis, an international conglomerate consisting of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and Peugeot S.A. Group.

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