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| © Motor Trend Staff 2011-Dodge-Dakota-by-Ram |
By Stefan Ogbac, Motor Trend
We've long known that Jeep will have a pickup based on the current generation JL Wrangler. For a few years now, we've also heard rumblings of a Ram midsize pickup. Now, suppliers have confirmed to Automotive News that Ram will build its own midsize truck, and it will be body-on frame.
The suppliers revealed that Ram's midsize pickup won't be unibody as previously imagined, meaning it won't be based on the Fiat Toro or the Ram 750 sold in Latin American markets. FCA's new CEO, former Jeep and Ram boss Mike Manley, has disclosed plans of a midsize Ram pickup but didn't reveal many details. However, he did say to expect the vehicle to arrive in 2020 as a 2021 model for the U.S. market.
We've long known that Jeep will have a pickup based on the current generation JL Wrangler. For a few years now, we've also heard rumblings of a Ram midsize pickup. Now, suppliers have confirmed to Automotive News that Ram will build its own midsize truck, and it will be body-on frame.
The suppliers revealed that Ram's midsize pickup won't be unibody as previously imagined, meaning it won't be based on the Fiat Toro or the Ram 750 sold in Latin American markets. FCA's new CEO, former Jeep and Ram boss Mike Manley, has disclosed plans of a midsize Ram pickup but didn't reveal many details. However, he did say to expect the vehicle to arrive in 2020 as a 2021 model for the U.S. market.
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| © Motor Trend Staff |
FCA's Toledo, Ohio plant, which is currently shut down for retooling since April of this year, will build Ram's midsize truck alongside the Wrangler-based pickup. The report notes that the Jeep pickup isn't expected to sell in high volumes like the Wrangler, allowing FCA to utilize the Toledo plant's underused capacity by building Ram's midsize offering. Before it closed for retooling, FCA's Toledo facility had the capacity for 160,000 units, but it regularly produced well over 230,000 examples of the previous generation JK Wrangler every year.
The last time Ram had a midsize truck in its lineup was back in 2011 when it sold the Dakota. Before the Ram brand's split from Dodge, the Dakota was sold for three generations with the first appearing in the 1987 model year. The third generation, which was sold from the 2005 to 2011 model years, was closely related to the Mitsubishi Raider and was offered with a choice of six- or eight-cylinder engines.
The last time Ram had a midsize truck in its lineup was back in 2011 when it sold the Dakota. Before the Ram brand's split from Dodge, the Dakota was sold for three generations with the first appearing in the 1987 model year. The third generation, which was sold from the 2005 to 2011 model years, was closely related to the Mitsubishi Raider and was offered with a choice of six- or eight-cylinder engines.
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