While Chrysler’s CEO Sergio Marchionne was at the North American International Auto Show last week he managed to find some time to confirm that the Ram brand is currently re-engineering a new midsized truck to continue on the recently discontinued Dakota’s name plate.  In recent years the midsized truck has seen its sales be cannibalized by the full size truck market and for good reason.

As the truck wars continue the level of upscale features found in today’s full size truck have increased 10 fold.  Long gone are the days that you could choose between leatherette and vinyl or tweed seat covering with the options list have such tough choices like including a tape deck or power windows.  A top of the line truck from either of the Detroit 3 comes with as many technology and luxury features as their high end luxury cars.  The trickledown effect of these cowboy Cadillac’s would have to be that the entry price of a full size truck has dramatically dropped or more importantly stayed at the same price point since the mid 90’s.

A well equipped full size truck minus all of the glitz and glamour on the inside will cost you a couple thousand dollars more than a mid-sized truck while offering its owner’s way more interior space and thus greater practicality.  The end result of this trend has been that the full size truck market has become also the mid-size market and brands like the Dakota, Ranger/B2000, Colorado/Canyon and Tacoma have not seen a model refresh in years or have been quietly discontinued.

Chrysler with the Ram brand is now looking to re-invent the midsized truck market with a new type of vehicle.  Sergio Marchionne has stated that the next-generation of the Old Dodge Dakota will have little in common with its forebears.  It was reported that there is a 50 percent chance that the truck will feature a unibody frame design which may be borrowed from the Chryslers current minivan.

The new Dakota will most likely get the 3.0-liter V6 CRD turbo diesel that is used to power the Grand Cherokee CRD model.  In the Jeep it is offered in two different flavors which are an entry diesel will feature 190hp and 325 lb-ft to torque with the top of the line diesel offering 241hp and 406lb-ft of torque.

Between the oil-burning mill and the lightweight (for a pickup) unibody construction, the new Dakota could be one of the most fuel-efficient pickups on the market.  We have been saying for years that this is the one advantage that a mid size truck should have over its full size bigger brother however to date there hasn’t been a manufacture brave enough to try this new formula.

The next Ram Dakota could be the first one to try to put this theory into practice.  They still have a couple kinks to worked out first like what other smaller displacement engines could also be used to complement the Common Rail Diesel.  They have the high horse power 3.6-liter V6 that could be used and we love the idea of having a turbo I4 for fuel economy, a powerful V6 for towing and the diesel option to provide drivers the best of both worlds.