Chicago Auto Show Blog

I have only attended one press conference in my lifetime and it was to introduce a brand new company. While it was interesting and exciting, in no way was it comparable to what I experienced yesterday. Chrysler revealed its 2010 Dodge Ram Heavy-Duty 2500 series pickup truck and the all new Chassis Cab commercial-grade work truck at its press conference. As these massive motor vehicles entered the room, the audience was enthralled with energy and enthusiasm. Bold, boastful and beautiful can be used to describe these trucks. With Internet connectivity ability and laptop storage space, these trucks were designed to integrate the consumer’s lifestyle.

Scott Kunselman, vice president of the body-on-frame product team and core team leader, explained, “It’s important to align the consumer with its demographic, and we have found that even the older demographic will use their vehicle as their office. This is very prevalent in the heavy-duty truck industry.”

In response to my question regarding competition from the current and popular Internet handsets Kunselman remarked, “We want to enhance technology for our consumers not replace it.”

As a consumer, I appreciate Dodge’s effort to design a vehicle that can be used as an interactive office. Construction workers, engineers, and contractors are constantly traveling from one worksite to the next. That leaves little time to communicate with the office and finalize business plans. These trucks solve that problem, by bringing the office to the worksite.

As a female with absolutely no truck knowledge, there is something to be said for Chrysler’s ability to entice me to want to drive a monstrous truck even though physically getting into the vehicle would be a challenge for my 5’2” stature. However, I would make that leaping jump just to get behind the wheel of powerful Dodge truck!