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I know, and from the Rebel!! Which is crazy to me, shorter vehicles are generally better off-road, afaik (I mean, I'm pretty sure Ram never gave you a "long" bed option on the Rebel, even with a quad cab, for a reason). Which means people are buying Rebels to never take them off-road lol.
As AngelPhoenix said, the only way to truly know if it's preference or supply is to give the consumer the choice. I would typically prefer a regular cab truck, but they aren't really available. The manufacturers say they don't make them because people don't buy them, but when you do find the handful that they do make, they're always base models with very few options. Maybe people aren't buying the RC because they want a truck with some creature comforts not just a work truck. It's a self fulfilling prophecy. Dodge claims people won't buy it, so they don't make it, hence people don't buy it because they can't. Likewise, you see a lot of CC short beds instead of CC regular beds because people can't find the 6.4 very easily in the CC.
See, I know this is anecdotal/isolated, but this is the type of thing that could show just how (not) popular the CC w/long bed really is, if we could aggregate reports of this happening with lots of different dealers in lots of different areas.
This made me curious...looks like the QC/6'-4" is 228.9" long. The CC/5'-7" is 232.9" (4" longer). And the CC/6'-4" is 241.8" (12.9" longer than QC/6'-4" and 8.9" longer than CC/5'-7").
You don't think they research these things? The trends are always changing, and it makes sense that dealerships will be slightly behind these changes. But do you really think they wouldn't order whatever configuration would mean the truck sits on the lot for the least amount of time? CC short beds are what is currently the most popular. So that's primarily what dealerships order for their lots. If the demand for QC long bed or CC long beds goes up you'll start seeing more of those on dealer lots.
How do they figure out if demand is increasing for something that's barely available though? This is a serious question. Do they create polls on the regular? I mean, I don't think a place like these forums is gonna be a good representation of what the average buyer wants.
I was just about to post something similar but less tactful. Thanks...you saved me from getting a few frowny faces.
I get what you’re saying. And I’m sure it even varies by region as far as how many are sold.
This is likely to vary between dealerships. It's common sense that they would want to have trucks on hand that people will want to buy. I know my local dealership keeps track of what customers are requesting, and base the trucks they order on the most common requests. I can't speak to how other dealerships do it. Times are quickly changing. Truck buying isn't like it used to be. Much of it is now done via e-mail, text messaging, phone calls. Not many people go into a dealership without first at least making contact or checking out dealer websites. So some of the tools they've used in the past may no longer work.
I've run into this as well. Those are the managers who don't last long in their position, or the dealership hasn't caught on to the fact that he's costing them sales by ordering vehicles which aren't popular for that area. It's pretty self-regulating if you think about it. How long can a dealership stay in business if they aren't selling the vehicles on their lot?
So it's pretty directly based on people's custom orders then? Cause I figured that would not necessarily be a good indicator, as people who order often want very specific things, and those specifics aren't necessarily reflective of what your average lot buyer, who's never custom ordered a vehicle in their lives (me up until a few months ago), actually wants. In other words, say that you see a spike in custom orders for the long bed, but it was something of a fluke, a coincidence of a lot of picky people (us) ordering that specifically, all around the same time. But if you were to poll the main customer base (lot buyers), they don't want long beds.
Speculating is fun. You could say the same about Ramboxes, or Night Edition, or regular cabs. And it's very likely that different dealerships use different methods or tools to determine what to order. I don't think there is a simple answer to your question of how that is decided for all dealerships.
With the way things are going, on my last question that you quoted, we may get to find out!
Maybe because increasing populations in cities/urban areas called for the shorter bed, and then people with more room to maneuver just moved up to a 2500+?
Can you translate please? lol
It's definitely a conundrum in this market, with these prices, choosing between getting exactly what you want, and what will retain value the best.
