So just how true does anyone think the rumor is that there will be announcement on a 2024 Dakota in March?

I'll believe it when I see it. Not that it would matter, its going to be way above my pay grade, and probably not the way I would want it.

You may not want it if its really a 2024, that would mean its just a flipped around Fiat truck

My dad lives in Mexico during the off season of His Alaska work.... He paid 14000k For a fully loaded Ram 700 down there! He loves it works good for the tiny streets where he lives. I cant under stand the 4 door reasoning on it though.. literally nobody with legs can fit back there is there is somebody in the two front seats

A two door version with longer bed would be cool.

Also a 3 passenger. Like on rear transverse seat like the old club cab truck offered. BUT would transverse seat pass new occupant safety rules ??

A 2 door you could pull the bed off and stick a little flatbed on would be awesome but with unibody construction it's impossible. Probably front wheel drive with no stick shift or hemi... come to think of it I don't see any reason for it to exist.

Right. Hyundai and Ford seem to have the corner on that market, and I tend to believe the market for that type vehicle is small.

Certainly not as a Dakota but perhaps to slot below Dakota. Just call it the Ram D50, put a 300hp turbo 4 in it

Yes. That was what I was thinking. True Mini-Truck. They seem to have disappeared

But the mini commercial Van market went belly up: Ram ProMaster City and Ford Transit connect are now gone: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a...compact-vans-and-there-goes-the-segment/

I bet some businesses will buy these and put them in cold storage. Like some did when they canceled Astro Van.

Odd as it seems, Chevrolet and Ford were way ahead of the curve with the El Camino and Ranchero models. The Honda Ridgeline, Ford Maverick "truck" and this Fiat turd all share the same one piece body/bed construction.
It reminds me of the AMC Eagle cars and station wagons of the 80s. THEY had all wheel drive much like today's crossover SUVs.

The Ford Maverick is a FWD 4cyl based vehicle and they're selling very well, but so does the Chevy Canyon, which is a real body on frame truck. A new Dakota has to be body on frame, but there is also a market for a maverick competitor

Seems to me that the current mini-trucks are targeted towards the urban/suburban buyer, or light-duty buyer.
Most are probably more concerned with having CarPlay/Nav/whatever than whether the thing can carry or tow a lot of weight.
I'd be wiling to bet that many are not concerned at all with unibody vs body/frame construction - they just haul gardening supplies or the occasional sofa or whatever.
I see quite a few of the new Rangers & Colorados/Canyons & Ridgelines up here in N Idaho, but not many Mavericks so far.
But most everyone here has a big honkin' 4X4 - there's probably more trucks than people !

Of the mini-truck bunch, to me the Ridgeline & Santa Fe have the best styling, but that Ram isn't too bad.
But I'm more likely to buy an old Dakota, El Camino, or Ranger if I want a small truck - it's just a better financial decision for me, because I like older, simpler stuff that holds its value.

14000K is 14 million , is that peso's? That would be ~ 76K US

As far as I'm concerned, that is not a truck. This is the 2004 Dakota I used to own. This was a truck.

And they better put their big boy pants on when designing a new one as that ^ is still the best looking smaller truck ever made since the 60's. Dodge has a big opportunity here - the GM is a Tacoma rip off, the Ford is a FWD unibody...

I LOVE my PMC for what I do. Currently about 195k on it, and though I can't afford to bank a brand new one, I'm watching COPART for a low-mileage wreck so I've got a drivetrain in stock when this one has issues.

For a small utility vehicle, check out this Fiat Doblo ( the PMC in the rest of the world) from the UK:

I'd fall into that suburban, garden supply sofa hauling category for sure. I don't need or want a big 4x4 jacked up half ton but I also don't want a fwd unibody bed mini truck. Something in between. Ranger sized.
Might have to get a good used Dakota if the plan is to Fiatize it.

Pretty fond of my '02 Dakota Sport regular cab. Should have bought 2 of them.

my 99 caravan can haul engines/transmissions/rear axles, as well as doors, hoods and fenders.
and if i feel like it, a person or two.
i think i'll keep my "bus".

Now that I've seen the Maverick in person, I think it's the ugliest "truck" on the road.

I agree on the Maverick styling. And I didn't think anyone would make a truck less appealing to me than the Ridgeline.

I agree. It took the award for ugliest "truck" away from Ridgeline.

I think something like that would be great in the US too.

The fuel economy of these are like 21mpg loaded city driving. I got over 28mpg hwy in a 1st gen Connect unloaded all hwy driving.

The Connect and ProMaster's have low rear decks. Easy lift over. And just build a 6' to 7' bed behind it.

And they could totally share the front sheet metal.

I have a '98 version of that. Agreed. One of the better trucks in the last few years.

I miss my '03. Almost 200K and no rust when my neighbor plowed into the back of it while it was parked in front of the house and bent the frame.

The El and Rancho came from down under where they still make them. The last hoorah was supposed to be Pontiac right before GM killed it off.
AMC was way ahead in ideas over the years but it never worked out for them.
This whole "truck" stigma really comes down to individual choice. And right now there is ALOT of choices. How much bed length do you want? How much GVW? How many doors? What fuel mileage can you live with? You want carpet AND a/c? Gas,turbo diesel,? How bout a supercharger? How many cup holders?

Life used to be simpler.

Lol,

My work truck is a 2019 Silverado 2500HD, crew cab, long bed, 4x4. By that standard the Dakota isn't any more a truck than the Ram 700 is.

It's a PITA to park in town, but t does what I need it to do for my job and I can stretch out and sleep in the thing, if I need to and I have.

My youngest Son loves the 2ND Gen Dakota. I just finished building a 360 Magnum for his last summer. We also painted the 73 Road Runner Style Hood and installed it. That 2024 Dakota is not a truck. A truck is meant for hauling and towing things. Heavy loads. That truck is another waste of a vehicle.

2nd gen Dakota really knocked it out of the park. Available V8 unlike Ranger, S10, rugged looks, good truck. Too bad even if they did come up with another with good looks it would be an EV

Ram Trucks needs a small/midsize ASAP to compete with the Colorado/Canyon, Ranger and Tacoma.

The ultimate Dakota would be a 1/2 scale or 2/3 scale Ram 1500 with a 3.6L V6 (built on the Jeep Gladiator platform).

Check out the rendering of a 2021 Ram Dakota on Car and Driver's website.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a28209983/ram-dakota-future-mid-size-pickup/

A potential dakota will be privately shown to dealers this month and it'll be up to them. Keep in mind it was the ram 1500 that helped kill the last dakota, it was just more truck for similar money so I doubt they go that route again. But who knows

The problem with the 2005-2011 Dakota is that you could get a Ram 1500 for about the same money. The 3rd gen Dakota was a disappointment IMO.

The new Dakota needs to be priced lower than a Ram 1500 or it won't sell.

Dodge did that to themselves on purpose. The earlier Dakotas were so popular and selling so well that they perceived the Dakota was stealing sales from the 1500 Ram. So they kept raising the MSRP up and up in an attempt to drive people to buy the Ram instead. All they did was alienate buyers who did not want or need a full-sized truck and send them over to the Ford or Chevy dealer to buy a Ranger or S-10. Dumb.

Then the final generation of Dakota they beat it so badly with the "ugly" stick that even die-hard Dakota-buyers wouldn't drive it. It went from one of the best-looking trucks on the road to one of the worst in one model-year. That was the end.

Now "full size" pickups have gotten ridiculously huge to the point where there is hopefully a market for smaller trucks again. (maybe)

Agreed on the looks, I didn't think it was possible to screw up a vehicle design that badly, but they did. Actually I think their head of design may have changed in-between which would explain it, they killed the durango by beating it with the same ugly stick as well.

It seems to me if the Dakota was cannibalizing sales from the big Ram they'd figure out the Dakota had gotten to big and the strategy should've been to go back to the original idea of the mid-size truck, not raise msrp closer to big Ram!

I'd present a modern / retro 98 dakota. Full frame, real 4x4, nice interior, , 300hp turbo 4 base engine and 410hp I6 RX model, lifted, flares, nice shocks/rims/tires ect. Sell an R/T club cab with the same 410hp I6 but RWD and lowered like the old R/T. They could then do both SRT versions SRT low and TRX off road with the 510hp I6. If they dont do that, they are dumb, it would sell like hot cakes.

I'll just keep my 2004 Dakota quad cab going. I bought it for practically nothing a few years ago. It was a repo with a locked up 4.7 (surprise, surprise!) and put a remanned engine in it and have since replaced the trans and just rebuilt the front suspension (2WD). I'll repaint it next and drive it till gas runs out in 20 or 30 years. I'm 65, so I'll kick over before that happens....lol.

This is a logical idea. In the past what really set the Dakota apart was the available V8, but that's no longer feasible I'm afraid.

Offering a turbo 6 would also keep it in its own lane as the new tacoma and canyon only have turbo 4's

I'd take anything that looked like 1st or 2nd Generation Dakota. To be honest, I like the styling best of the 1987-1990 Dakotas. I've owned three convertibles. Love the convertibles and will probably try to get another if I can't get a Prowler for reasonable in hopefully, the near future.