Dale Coy, Senior Manager, Commercial Fleet at Nutrien Ag Solutions, is based in Loveland, Colorado. He recently shared some insights about fleet management in agricultural circles.
Stellantis Fleet: Tell us a little about Nutrien and how your fleet is used day to day.
Nutrien Ag Solutions: Nutrien Ag Solutions is the world’s largest crop inputs company, providing full-acre solutions with more than 1,700 global locations that help growers achieve the highest yields with the most sustainable solutions possible. The fleet has roughly 10,000 light‑duty trucks that are versatile, everyday work vehicles used for personal transport and farm utility, making routine tasks faster and efficient.
Stellantis Fleet: When you’re making decisions about what vehicles to buy for the fleet, you probably look at the data on vehicle use, correct?
Nutrien Ag Solutions: We do. We look at the total cost of ownership and recommend what really needs to be replaced. For the last two years, Ram Brand trucks have been more dominant in terms of cost of ownership and operation. In fact, for the last several years, we ordered a much larger volume of Ram trucks compared to a Chevy or a Ford. Our partnership is much stronger with the Ram Brand.
Some of that comes from the fact that the Ram Brand didn’t fail us during COVID. They rarely canceled orders. Folks who would never consider driving a Ram truck before would come back after driving one and say, “Dale, have to say, this is a good truck.”
Stellantis Fleet: What makes the Ram Brand different?
Nutrien Ag Solutions: Nutrien always looks at safety and comfort for the driver. That includes features like available heated seats and heated steering wheels for the associates who work in cold climates. Drivers like the standard comfort and safety features the Ram lineup has to offer. The drivers also enjoy the departures in the Ram trucks, especially the adaptive wipers and cruise control. And I think Ram vehicles are better than they were five years ago. The drivers are having fewer problems, which makes it easier for them to operate with less time in the shop. A lot of times the driver will request to buy the vehicle at the end of its life cycle. They’ll send us photos and details of the vehicle. And it’s spotless. You know they love that vehicle.
Stellantis Fleet: I mean, if somebody’s in, say, a Jeep® Grand Cherokee as their company vehicle and they’ve got eyes on it, you know they’re going to take very good care of it during their tenure, right?
Nutrien Ag Solutions: Right. There’s driver satisfaction with that. But also, for the remarketing part, it makes it fairly seamless for my team.
