As bad as gas prices are, diesel prices are way worse. Just a few days ago, the national average price for diesel was well above $6 a gallon. That’s bad for all kinds of reasons, particularly for the trucking and rail industries that are fully dependent on the fuel. It’s also bad if you own a diesel pickup, especially a heavy-duty one.
Not only that, but if you’re a dealer or automaker, those expensive new diesel trucks are suddenly looking way more expensive, so the incentives are starting to roll out.
2019 – 2026 Ram 2500 exteriorRam
Ram Is Offering The Biggest Discount
CarsDirect did some digging and found that all three of the American automakers are putting thousands of dollars on the high-rise hoods of their diesel heavy-duty pickups. For the most money overall, you’ll want to go with Ram, which is offering 10% off its 2500 and 3500 diesel trucks up to $10,524. You’ll need to spend more than $60,000 on a truck from them (which won’t be hard) to top Ford’s flat $6,000 discount on its diesel trucks from F-250 to F-450. Bringing up the rear are the GM brands with discounts up to $4,500 on select trim levels.
It’s also worth noting that these discounts are on 2026 models, and, at the moment, are only good until the end of the month. If you’re looking at Ram or Ford diesels, it makes a lot of sense to get the discount instead of a 2027. The changes for the 2027 model year are mostly focused on some off-road options and other very minor equipment changes.
2025 Ford F-350 Super Duty from the front three-quarter angleFord
For example, Ford expanded Tremor availability, and Ram finally added the diesel to the Power Wagon. Ford did also drop the base diesel engine for 2027, meaning that all new diesel Super Duties would get what was formerly the high-output option. However, it’s not a new engine that wasn’t previously available.
Is There A Reason You Might Want To Skip The GM Discounts?
It’s a different story for GM buyers. Besides having smaller discounts, Chevy and GMC made a major change to its diesel heavy-duty trucks. The 2027 Silverado HD and Sierra HD will get completely new diesel engines, going from turbo 6.6-liter V8s to turbo 8.3-liter V8s. Not only does the new engine outperform Ford’s most powerful diesel, the 555 horsepower and 1,230 pound-feet of torque represent improvements of 85 horses and a whopping 255 lb-ft over the old 6.6-liter. So, GM buyers looking for a big diesel may want to wait for the big performance improvement.
2027 Chevrolet Silverado HD 2500 ZR2 from the front three-quarter angleChevrolet
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
It’s hard not to see these discounts, particularly focused on diesel powertrains specifically, as a response to sky-high diesel prices. If discounts persist, or even appear on new models, that will be more evidence that diesel prices are putting off buyers. That’s also assuming that diesel prices don’t go back down, and since it doesn’t seem as though the fighting with Iran and around Middle Eastern waterways is going to end anytime soon, we’re betting they’ll stay high.
So, if you’re willing to grin and bear it through high diesel prices, or you actually need a big diesel, it looks like you’ll be able to get a small reprieve from automakers for a little while.
Source: CarsDirect
