Jurriën timber While showing us some embargoed Rams, brand boss Tim Kuniskis confirmed that you already guessed the name of the brand’s forthcoming smaller pickup: Dakota.
Ram has a bunch of amazing stuff coming in the new year, which we’ll be free to tell you about on New Year’s Day (set a calendar reminder to stir from your possibly hungover slumber to visit MotorTrend). During the Q&A after the announcement, Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis fielded questions, which inevitably came around to the subject of the long-anticipated midsize truck.
The pat answer is to not comment on future products, but Tim connected all the dots for us. “We don’t have a volume trim $40,000 truck. The only way we’ll ever get back to the $40,000 price point [again is with a] midsize truck. And you all heard the announcement that Antonio [Filosa, Stellantis CEO] made. We’re investing $13 billion into the U.S. One of the things that we’re investing that is to bring a midsize truck. Will it be called the Dakota? I guess is the answer there … yeah.”
He was less forthcoming when questioners followed up asking if the 10-year/100,000-mile warranty might be extended to the new Dakota. “We were very careful [not] to say that this is a forever thing. But you see people coming in and spending their cash to buy a Ram, and the competitive trades are going up from 16 to 28 percent. That’s real.” So … maybe?
The details we know about the new Ram truck are scant at this point, but the brand has confirmed production will begin in 2027 at its Belvidere, Illinois, assembly plant. That may mean it will debut as a 2028 model.
Power is expected to come from a variety of sources, including traditional ICE engines as well as a plug-in hybrid option. It’s also slated to utilize body-on-frame construction like its key competitors (Ford Ranger, Toyota Tacoma, Chevy Colorado) and big-brother Ram 1500, not a unibody like trucks such as the Honda Ridgeline and Ford Maverick.
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I started critiquing cars at age 5 by bumming rides home from church in other parishioners’ new cars. At 16 I started running parts for an Oldsmobile dealership and got hooked on the car biz. Engineering seemed the best way to make a living in it, so with two mechanical engineering degrees I joined Chrysler to work on the Neon, LH cars, and 2nd-gen minivans. Then a friend mentioned an opening for a technical editor at another car magazine, and I did the car-biz equivalent of running off to join the circus. I loved that job too until the phone rang again with what turned out to be an even better opportunity with Motor Trend. It’s nearly impossible to imagine an even better job, but I still answer the phone…
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