Analysts who speculated that the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 would launch with incentives were right. The redesigned full-size pickup is pulling onto dealership floors and lots with incentives of up to $1,000.

Pickup buyers who complete their deals before Sept. 30 will get $1,000 cash allowance on the Ram 1500 quad cab style or its new crew cab version. Customers who buy the regular cab style receive $500 cash allowance.

Incentives are typically applied to vehicles near the end of the model year, when automakers and their dealers are trying to shed the old model before the new model year’s version rolls off the production line.

“I don’t believe (Chrysler has) ever launched the Ram with incentives,” said Jessica Caldwell, an industry analyst with auto information website Edmunds.com, today. “You want to hold off as long as you can before incentives” need to be applied.

But a slower economy and a shift away from the gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles and pickups accelerated that process this year. Caldwell said it was expected that the 2009 Ram 1500 would enter the market with incentives, given the economic climate.

What also complicates the 2009 Ram 1500 launch is the pickup’s 2008 inventory. Earlier this month, Mike Accavitti — director of Dodge marketing — told the Post-Dispatch that Chrysler had less than three months worth of last year’s Rams, or fewer than 30,000 pickups. He said Chrysler was in a better inventory position than other automakers.

But Caldwell said today that Chrysler’s 2008 Ram inventory is still pretty high, and an ideal supply this time of year would be one to two months. Having 2008 Rams on the market at the same time as the newer version could make the two model years compete for sales.

Chrysler is not advertising the incentives on the 2009 Ram 1500, but the Dodge website has more information.

By the way, workers at Chrysler’s pickup plant in Fenton started assembling the 2009 Ram 1500 regular and crew cabs this month. The quad cab version is made at the Warren, Mich., plant, where the crew cabs also are made.

Larger versions of the pickup, which were not part of the redesign, are made in Fenton and Saltillo, Mexico.