With Chrysler ’s Ram division now a standalone brand, the future of the slow-selling Dodge Dakota pickup has been called into question. At a press conference on Wednesday, Ram’s newly appointed CEO Fred Diaz said a replacement is in the works.
Production of the current Dakota will end in 2011, at which point a new unibody pickup will enter the lineup. Obvious parallels can be drawn between the forthcoming model and the Honda Ridgeline, which currently stands on its own in the unibody pickup segment. GM recently scrapped the Denali XT project and Toyota shelved production plans for its A-BAT concept.
There is already speculation the Dakota successor could be based on the 2006 Dodge Ram page concept (shown in our gallery), which was reasonably well received by the media and general public.
The Dakota entered production in 1987. Now in its third generation, the truck is assembled at the company’s truck assembly plant in Warren, Michigan.
