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Next Dakota To Go Global?

By William Maley

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Ram could be going down the same road as GM and Ford with their midsize pickup trucks.

Originally, Ram was going engineer and develop the Dakota for North America by Chrysler’s engineering staff. However, when Fiat assumed control of the automaker in 2009, plans changed.

"It is something that we are evaluating.As a global organization, we are now starting to look at what can we bring to the market that would actually work in Europe, in Asia, in the U.S., in Mexico, and so forth, and get the platform right so that we can enjoy the economies of scale that come with that," said Ram CEO Fred Diaz

Chrysler is still trying to figure out what the next Dakota will become. Previously, the company hinted at a midsize unibody pickup, but Diaz says Chrysler is still evaluating both unibody and traditional body-on-frame designs.

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Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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    ocnblu

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    Good to see they're considering a body-on-frame design. The fact that it'll be "global" is interesting. Will it match the Ranger/Colorado in size then, or go smaller? And if it's global, can a diesel engine be far behind? I am encouraged by this. The unibody Dakota was not sounding cool atall, imo.

    Edited by ocnblu

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    Blake Noble

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    A unibody-on-ladder frame design could yield an interesting pickup.

    Anyway, it's good to know that there's a chance a real, small pickup will be over at the Ram stable and one less American automaker will be handing the market over to Toyota and Nissan. Now if only Ford would wise up ...

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