The Dakota That Could Have Been
Sometime around 2012, a Ram Trucks source told TTAC about an investigation into a smaller pickup for the brand, one that could have even turned out to be a front-drive pickup. “We won’t do another Dakota,” said our source, “but maybe something else.”. By all accounts, that truck would have been based on one of Fiat’s small, unibody front-drive pickups. But now, Fiat seems to want a Dakota of its own.
Automotive News reports that Fiat will get a new body-on-frame midsize truck starting in 2016, which will be a variant of the Mitsubishi L200. The Thai-built L200 is a smaller, body-on-frame pickup with rear or four-wheel drive and both gasoline and diesel engines, making it a good fit for Fiat’s commercial vehicle lineup. And it’s very likely that we’ll never seen it here.
FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne told reporters at the most recent 5-year plan that FCA had tried out a smaller truck at clinics, but was unable to wow the crowd, let alone make a business case for such a truck. The L200 isn’t homologated for North America either, and a smaller truck isn’t a great fit for FCA in terms of CAFE either. FCA is already lagging behind other OEMs in terms of CAFE footprint, and small trucks are one of the worst vehicles when it comes to meeting those standards.
More by Derek Kreindler
Comments
Join the conversation
This pickup is common here in Brazil. It is outclassed by the competition unfortunately as to my eyes it looks pretty good. Ranger, Amarok, Frontier, S10 (Colorado) all have advantages over it. That's not to say it's bad, but it's kind of soft. The previous L200, also on sale here is a real work truck. Derek, this is new to me. Fiat has been in talks with truck makers for a long time. Mahindra, Tata, even Dodge before the tie-up were frequently mentioned. Fiat never took an interest as this kind of truck would never appeal in Europe though it has a strong and very profitable market here. If it does come about there will be 4 pick ups in FCA's line up. The car based Strada, a strada-based but bigger PU similar to Honda's Element technically speaking and midway between a Strada and the truck shown here in size, this truck and the RAM. I think it's too much, unless Dodge is in fact looking for a new Dakota.
I take back everything I said about wanting a mid-size pickup. That thing is horrifying.
This is an ironic role reversal, since---not long ago---Mitsubishi had the Raider here in the States, which was a rebadged Dakota.
And before the Dakota there was the D-50 a Mitsubishi Mighty Max. I guess it is time for a Fiat/Chrysler to be rebadged from a Mitsubishi. Repeat the cycle.