Fiat van heads to Ram brand

Italian automaker Fiat appears ready to expand its reach stateside—albeit under a U.S. brand.

Chrysler last September announced its intent to bring the Fiat Doblo, which is a small, boxy commercial van, to the U.S. market in Ram’s lineup. The launch of the Doblo will mark a return to the commercial-van market by Ram, which discontinued its previous commercial option, the Sprinter, in 2009.

In Europe, the Doblo carries a choice of five engines with a five- or six-speed manual transmission. The diesel option is a 1.3-liter, 90-hp turbocharged four-cylinder powerplant, but the gasoline option can get up to 120 hp. Chrysler hasn’t commented on whether the engine options will change for the U.S. market.

We suspect that the Doblo’s price will be competitive with that of the Ford Transit Connect, which carries a 2.0-liter, 136-hp four-cylinder engine. This would bring in the Doblo in the neighborhood of $20,000.