Article - Ram Dakota Might Dethrone the Ford Maverick

[Guardian]

The Dakota looks like an Americanized Santa Cruz. Didn't grab me like the Maverick did. No mention of hybrid. It will be interesting to watch this develop.

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[JennyJoannSuebeeMcNash]

Not buying any Dodge/Chrysler products. EVER.

 

[onthedrums]

Not buying any Dodge/Chrysler products. EVER.

Yeah, this^
Not in my driveway.

 

[JennyJoannSuebeeMcNash]

Yeah, this^
Not in my driveway.

Admittedly, we bought our daughter a Jeep Wrangler back in 2012, but when she realized she couldn't afford the gas as a poor college student, we traded the Jeep in for a slightly-used (2800 miles?) Toyota Corolla Eco version. She only told me after the fact that the Jeep would occasionally "shut itself off" at stop lights on random occasions. One more reason why I won't give any more money to Dodge/Chrysler.

 

[Old Ranchero]

wow, I guess anything to divert people's attention from war. 4 pages of discussion about an already shut down theory going back to last year. Stellantis officially said any idea of a Ram "compact" based on the Gladiator is dead dead dead! NOT going to happen as it would be too expensive and would siphon off sales from the current Gladiator which they sell for premium price and profit. NONE of those little tiny Fiat based "utes" from south America are compatible with US standards and would be too costly to re-engineer for US markets and none of the drivetrains would sell here if they did. The only option they would have is to take an existing US economy platform and put a new more truck like body on it and call it Dakota for name recognition- but Stellantis has never said they wanted to go that route. Add in that they are all-in on EVs going forward (even Chargers, Challengers, Jeeps, Rams, etc.) and there isn't 1 iota of evidence they are remotely interested in competing in compact space with Maverick and Santa Cruz. All wishful thinking by a sliver of the buying public looking for an alternative to Mav and SC for whatever personal reasons.

This reminds me of the Seinfeld TV show- " a show about nothing"

 

[uh50]

I've owned enough Chrysler products over the years to know that I'll never buy another. As of right now, there is no competition for the Maverick.

I'm not sure about never, but it's unlikely that this life long Mopar driver will ever return to a Fiat/Peugot designed and perhaps Italian assembled Ram. Love my Maverick!

 

[Gr8Mustang]

Over the years Chrysler has had some great designs but the construction, fit and finish were crap. So many of those machines fell apart after a short time.

Some great motors as well.

If they could only build as well as they design, they would still be one of the American Big 3.

 

[JASmith]

In 2016 Jeep did a concept " Comanche" on a Renegade body - so its a Fiat 500 in a jeep skin LOL .

Jeep Concept Comanche

Renegade has nothing to do with the Fiat 500 chassis, its 500X, which while similar sounding are two totally unrelated platforms. The 500 is truly microscopic in size, whereas the 500x/Renegade chassis goes all the way in size to a Jeep Compass which is actually pretty roomy. The Compass PHEV that Europe gets that was just refreshed is also pretty damn nice, but unfortunately the US only gets the junk Tigershark poop.

The Renegade gets a lot of hate, but I always thought it was super cute and would totally buy one of those if it were more reliable. Nothing against Fiat or FCA in general, as I had a Fiat 500 that was the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned, and a Ram 1500 that at 150K+ miles hasn't needed more than a couple hundred bucks in parts replaced, but the Renegade has well known total crap reliability.

I think FCA products are fine, as long as they aren't built in Italy, and the Renegade is.

 

[999]

What Dodge/RAM pickup truck has ever dethroned any Ford pickup truck? I'm talking sales.

 

[Ricketts]

Nothing appealing about this to me.

 

[ehauser]

I think there has to be an auto company out there that can compete with the Maverick. So far no one has stepped up. I think Nissan could bring back the hardbody truck from the 90s, build it as a unibody with updated styling. Even the Navara that is made overseas could be used as a starting point. Just add a hybrid option.

 

[Thrillhouse]

Over the years Chrysler has had some great designs but the construction, fit and finish were crap. So many of those machines fell apart after a short time.

Some great motors as well.

If they could only build as well as they design, they would still be one of the American Big 3.

Chrysler has made great gains and the Ram has moved up and is one of the more reliable trucks in initial quality.

 

[Thrillhouse]

What Dodge/RAM pickup truck has ever dethroned any Ford pickup truck? I'm talking sales.

Considering F series is the best selling vehicle in the US for some 40 odd years, none. Ram has made gains and even surpassed the Silverado for #2 but I believe it's would still be behind if you took the Silverado and Sierra combined.

 

[Packer Bill]

Even before I bought the Maverick, I knew that Ford was the only manufacturer of pickups to be considered. Nobody builds better pickups that Ford right now.

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