Ram’s New Midsize Pickup Gets An Excellent Name
It was a no-brainer. Not our words, but the CEO’s, and we’re glad it’s back.
Out of all the brands under Stellantis, we can safely say that Ram is making a massive effort to revive its presence. They not only promised a new SUV, but Ram’s new midsize pickup is a huge step in the right direction for the company.
A new midsize truck will not only help Ram compete with the Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger, and Chevrolet Colorado in the competitive $40,000 range. This new vehicle tugs at the heart of late-90s nostalgia.
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Ram’s CEO Tim Kuniskis addressed the big elephant in the room: what’s the name? Very simple: it’s the Ram Dakota. In his words, it was a no-brainer to name it after one of its popular trucks in the late 90s.
Production will start in 2027 for delivery in 2028, and there are already lots of rumors around the mechanical specifications. Ram has yet to release data, but Motor1 went ahead and rendered a model.
This same article states that the engines will likely be four- and six-cylinder options. However, I venture to guess that a special TRX version will also be in the works. Ram has known how to leverage its performance division, and the Dakota should be no exception.
The Original Dakota was a success (at first)
Ram’s new midsize pickup comes at a great time for the company, and it serves to bring back memories. Released in 1987, the original Dodge Dakota entered the market as a no-frills utilitarian vehicle that even shared many parts with other Chrysler products to keep the price low.
The goal was to compete with Chevy and Ford at the time, and one interesting aspect about the Dakota was the wide array of engine options available. Consistently, it offered an inline-4, a V6, and a V8.
This article explains some of the issues you might find with the early V8s.
The second-generation Dakota was a sales hit, selling almost 178,000 units in 2000. Plus, it came with a more aggressive, “semi-truck” styling similar to the Ram. The truck was still versatile and aimed at hard work, but creature comforts were available in higher-end trims.
There were even convertible versions!
The real problems came with the third generation. It was considerably larger, rendering it impractical for hard work, as this article recalls.
To make matters worse, the Dakota was too expensive; in some trims, it was more expensive than the Ram. The company, thus, was cannibalizing its market.
The CEO of Chrysler Group at the time, Sergio Marchionne, had said that the Dakota was struggling in sales because the compact truck was no longer popular in the US.
Times have changed, and, like Ford before it, Ram is betting on a newfound interest in smaller trucks.
Challenges for Ram’s new midsize pickup
Toyota dominates the midsize pickup segment with the Tacoma. It’s reliable, versatile, and has a core following. Ford has surprised everyone with the Ranger since it reentered the market a couple of years ago, and now, Chevrolet is slowly taking away sales from these two.
At the same time, the Tacoma has earned Top Safety from the IIHS, and the Ranger has a 5-star rating. In its time, the Dakota was never capable of ranking highly in safety, and Ram’s new midsize pickup has to correct that.
At the same time, people want an option in the $40,000 range, with full-size trucks becoming prohibitively expensive. The market is competitive, yet there’s an opportunity for something a bit more rugged, more mud-on-the-boots, but from hard work, not fun. That’s where the Ram Dakota comes into play.