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All-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram Pickup Truck Spied Testing

Former Ram Truck numero uno Fred Diaz declared at the 2013 New York Auto Show: “we are heavily, heavily, heavily exploring the possibility of bringing a mid-sized truck to the market.” But Diaz is no longer the big shot and the plans for developing this type of workhorse have been declared unfeasible.
All-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototype 16 photos
Photo: CarPix
All-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeAll-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeAll-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeAll-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeAll-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeAll-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeAll-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeAll-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeAll-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeAll-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeAll-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeAll-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeAll-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeAll-New Dodge Dakota / Mid-Size Ram truck prototypeFiat Professional 5-year-plan
Even Ford Motor Company waved goodbye to the mid-size pickup truck segment, phasing off the US-spec Ranger. But in the last two years or so, the market started to boom again for GM (2015 Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Canyon) and Toyota's Tacoma.

According to an older Fiat-Chrysler five-year-plan, the company wishes to import a Fiat-branded truck, rebadge it as a Ram and sell it in 2016 as is - a not-exactly-worthy successor for the Dodge Dakota. As if this wasn’t enough of a letdown, more or less official reports claim that FCA will buy the L200 truck from Mitsubishi, re-body and rebrand it as a Fiat, then do it again for the still-unconfirmed Ram Dakota. Yeah...

It’s anybody’s guess what the future holds for the US branch of Fiat-Chrysler and their plans to re-enter the mid-size pickup truck segment. According to the spy photos provided by our trusty team of carparazzi, what we’re dealing with here is an early test mule wearing heavy disguise.

It’s hard to tell, but glancing at the thing from its side profile, it seems like the front side windows and A-pillars are shared with the new Mitsubishi L200 (also known as the Triton).

The front fascia design on the other hand is somewhat different than the Mitsubishi’s, head lamps included, so we’re in a big pinch trying to understand what FCA is developing under all that black camouflage.

All we hope for is that Fiat-Chrysler won’t make a half-assed truck if the higher-ups are really planning to resurrect the long-gone Dodge Dakota.

By the way, here’s a curious fact: the 2015 Mitsubishi L200/Triton may wear a Japanese badge, but it’s actually made in Thailand, the country where FoMoCo also manufactures the T6-gen Ranger.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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