Ram 1500 EcoDiesels are selling like hotcakes so far

We've been anticipating the arrival of the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel -- and speculating about what it means for the pickup market -- for months.

On paper, the truck seems to make perfect sense: The 3.0-liter V6 in the 1500 EcoDiesel returns 23 mpg combined (20 city/28 highway) while producing 240 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque. After taking it for a spin, the $30,465 base price didn't seem too bad, either.

Apparently, the pickup market agrees: The entire initial allocation of the oil-burners sold out in just three days earlier this month. That works out to more than 8,000 trucks sold between the afternoon of Feb. 7 and the morning of Feb. 10. Not too shabby.

According to Ram, the 8,000-plus EcoDiesels account for a whopping 50 percent of all 1500s ordered in this period. Previously, Ram's Reid Bigland estimated that the EcoDiesel could make up as much as 30 percent of 1500 sales. We're sure there's a significant amount of pent-up demand for this truck; it will be interesting to watch how this proportion shifts once pickup buyers who have been craving a diesel full-size for years have filled that spot in their fleet and it's up to the general public to sustain sales.

If EcoDiesel 1500s continue to fly off lots once this initial wave of orders has been filled, we wouldn't be surprised if other pickup manufacturers took a good, hard look at adding an oil-burner to their lineups, and quickly. That midsize Nissan Frontier diesel concept we just saw at the Chicago Auto Show wouldn't be a bad place to start.

By Graham Kozak