diff --git a/packages/angular-cli/commands/serve.ts b/packages/angular-cli/commands/serve.ts
index 7c16c49993b8..5151150b7059 100644
--- a/packages/angular-cli/commands/serve.ts
+++ b/packages/angular-cli/commands/serve.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ export interface ServeTaskOptions {
   sslCert?: string;
   aot?: boolean;
   open?: boolean;
+  progress?: boolean;
 }
 
 const ServeCommand = Command.extend({
@@ -88,6 +89,7 @@ const ServeCommand = Command.extend({
       aliases: ['o'],
       description: 'Opens the url in default browser',
     },
+    { name: 'progress',             type: Boolean, default: true },
   ],
 
   run: function(commandOptions: ServeTaskOptions) {
diff --git a/packages/angular-cli/tasks/serve-webpack.ts b/packages/angular-cli/tasks/serve-webpack.ts
index 9c2e0a6229ad..ec0c38764263 100644
--- a/packages/angular-cli/tasks/serve-webpack.ts
+++ b/packages/angular-cli/tasks/serve-webpack.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ const SilentError = require('silent-error');
 const Task = require('ember-cli/lib/models/task');
 import * as webpack from 'webpack';
 const WebpackDevServer = require('webpack-dev-server');
-const ProgressPlugin = require('webpack/lib/ProgressPlugin');
 import { webpackDevServerOutputOptions } from '../models/';
 import { NgCliWebpackConfig } from '../models/webpack-config';
 import { ServeTaskOptions } from '../commands/serve';
@@ -36,10 +35,14 @@ export default Task.extend({
     );
     webpackCompiler = webpack(config);
 
-    webpackCompiler.apply(new ProgressPlugin({
-      profile: true,
-      colors: true
-    }));
+    if (commandOptions.progress) {
+      const ProgressPlugin = require('webpack/lib/ProgressPlugin');
+
+      webpackCompiler.apply(new ProgressPlugin({
+        profile: true,
+        colors: true
+      }));
+    }
 
     let proxyConfig = {};
     if (commandOptions.proxyConfig) {