Check out BadStratRT's homepage article refuting the premature declarations of the death of the American pickup truck. Do we really have anything to worry about? Or is the Dakota just the first in line for doomed pickups?

 

Most people are like me, I would assume. I have a medium size car that gets 30 mph and a Ram for the work I need to do.

 

Yep, a 30+ mpg hwy 09 Caliber to offset the 08 Hemi Ram.

 

I take the bus to work and drive my ram 100% for personal. No second vehicle needed when your company provides you a bus to ride. My ram will reside as my primary vehicle for many years!

 

My RAM 1500 gets as good gas milege as my dads dakota, he wished he went full size....midsize trucks may be on way out???

 

I drive my Hemi Ram 80 miles round trip a day. The wife drives the Caliber most days.

 

Did I miss something? Are the Dakotas getting phased out?

 

Yep, it's dead. But they have been built on the Ram platform for the last couple generations. They have got too big and too little to distinguish them the Ram. Last year, in 2010, I posted sales prices for an identically equipped Ram and Dakota and the Ram was $2000 cheaper than the Dakota. I don't know what the marketing plan was for Dakota, but it wasn't good. One thing FIAT has said they have plans for, is a true compact pickup to replace the Dakota. If it's the size of the original compact pickups, and not overpriced, I think it'd be a winner.

 

ahh ok. yeah they were getting pretty big. I remember hearing that some of the Ford Ranger were actually more expensive than the f150s aswell even though the ranger hasnt really changed much over the years, which Is one reason the Ranger is my favorite small truck.

 

The American truck is just fine, it is simple consolidation that is happening in all car segments. We have fewer car divisions because we don't need as much overlap and to a large degree, there was a lot of overlap between the DODGE Ram and the DODGE Dakota in the last years. I believe it is possible for their to be a place for the DODGE Dakota, they simply need to adjust their strategy. They need to offer a competitive I4 with at least a six speed standard, the Pentastar V6, and maybe a Hemi as an R/T package (a real R/T not what used to be the "ES" trim package that we call R/T), smooth the styling out like they did with the Durango and offer the a good interior. It basically needs to be downsized and (no offense to Dakota fans it is a good truck) make it look good as it did before they ruined the appearance in making it look like a Chevy during the Dumbler years.

The reason why the Ranger failed is the same reason why the Crown Vic failed, they ignored it way too long. The Ranger could still be relevant if they would give it a modern powertrain.

This in essence is what the problem was.