- The remaining Ram Pro Master City small vans start at $31,475, plus a $1,795 delivery fee
Ram will discontinue its Pro Master City small cargo van after the 2022 model year. The move comes shortly after Ford announced the end of its Transit Connect compact van line. Together, the decisions mean the quiet death of an entire segment of vehicles.
From Four Choices to Zero in a Year
As recently as the 2021 model year, buyers looking for a cargo van small enough to handle easily in city streets could choose from the Pro Master City, the Transit Connect, the Nissan NV200, and the Mercedes-Benz Metris. GM produced its own, the Chevrolet City Express, until the 2018 model year. It was a twin of the Nissan NV200.
The vans are often built on the same platforms as compact SUVs. The Transit Connect shared its bones with the Maverick pickup and Bronco Sport SUV. The Pro Master City had its roots in a European subcompact car architecture from Fiat (Ram and Fiat share a parent company, Stellantis).
They offer space to transport cargo along with the small size to handle nimbly in tight city streets and park in small confines. Sliding doors make loading and unloading an easier task than in most SUVs and pickups. The combination seemed ideal for urban delivery businesses but never caught on in the American marketplace.
“That particular segment has shrunk every year for the last four or five years,” Dave Sowers, head of Ram Commercial, told trade publication Automotive News. Ram sold about 8,600 Pro Master City vans in the first half of 2022. It sells more Ram 1500 pickups in a slow week.
Automakers Say Larger Electric Vans Will Take Their Place
What will automakers offer to the few customers who are interested in a compact van? They’re betting that fuel economy drove the appeal of small vans. “Fuel prices historically pushed people to smaller vans,” Sowers told AN. “Now we’re going to start looking at electrified solutions that are more capable and more flexible than what was there in the past.”
Ram plans a battery electric version of its larger Pro Master van for the 2024 model year.
Ford’s electric E-Transit vans could play that role for some small businesses. But they lack the maneuverability of the little guys, and prices start at around $43,000 – a big hurdle compared to the sub-$30,000 starting price of the Transit Connect.
Could smaller electric vans fill the whole? A smaller, lighter EV could get useful delivery range out of a smaller battery. But sales didn’t justify keeping the gasoline-powered compact van alive. With a microchip shortage forcing automakers to build fewer cars than they could sell, we don’t see niche segments like this coming back anytime soon.
If you’ve thought of buying one, Sowers says dealers will still be receiving new 2022 Pro Master City models through the first quarter of 2023.
