Ram Trucks is making it easier for customers to visualize an aftermarket upfit to its Ram Chassis Cab and ProMaster vans long before the first bolt is tightened. With the help of virtual reality, Ram dealerships can show customers how they can upfit their Ram products with aftermarket graphics, storage shelves, flatbed bodies, and utility beds. Ram calls it’s the Augmented Reality Upfit Configurator. It originally launched late in 2016 for the Ram ProMaster van. Now Ram has expanded the reach to the smaller ProMaster City and its full lineup of Ram Chassis Cab trucks, which include the 3500, 4500, and 5500 series cabs.

The debut took place, fittingly enough, at the 2017 Work Truck Show in Indianapolis. Ram Brand head Mike Manley was on hand to showcase the new buying tool. “The commercial truck segments rely heavily on customer options, reliability, and ease of conversion and no one does it better than Ram,” he said. "As part of continued improvement, Ram Commercial addresses all three areas with the introduction of Ram Augmented Reality Upfit Configurator and Q Pro while maintaining industry leadership for ease-to-upfit on our Chassis Cab trucks and ProMaster vans.”

That Q Pro thing Manley mentioned piggybacks onto the aftermarket upfit industry. It allows upfitter companies direct access to Ram engineers. It’s designed to help upfitters design and build better products that best utilize Ram vehicles. Upfitters have direct access to Ram Engineering, allowing the engineers to survey, make recommendations, and certify upfitter products. Once certified, those aftermarket companies can co-brand their products as Q Pro, showing customers that Ram’s engineers approve of the upfit equipment.

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Why It Matters

Not only is this a great new resource for Ram customers during the buying process, but it should prove its worth over the lifespan of the aftermarket upfit. Customers can rest easy knowing the Q Pro-certified upfit was approved by the same engineers that developed their Ram 3500, 4500, or 5500 pickup, or ProMaster van. No other automaker in the industry offers such a service.