Report: Hoping for a Dodge Dakota or midsize pickup revival from Mopar? Not gonna happen…

If you’ve been living under a rock recently, then you probably wouldn’t have realized that General Motors and Toyota have rebooted their midsize pickup truck entrants, putting pressure on fellow competitors like Ford, Chrysler, and Nissan (who has a new Frontier on the way, eventually).

But if you were hoping that from this resurgence, Chrysler would reintroduce their version of a midsize pickup truck, which was once fulfilled by the old Dakota, unfortunately, you will be let down.

AutomotiveNews sat with Ram’s CEO, Bob Hegbloom, at the New York Auto Show recently, where they learned Ram has no interest in a midsizer because they haven’t been able to match the qualities Hegbloom expects from a midsize pickup when compared to the Ram’s full-size line.

In their eyes, a midsize pickup should make up for its lesser capabilities when compared to a full-size pickup with a more compact form, lower price, and higher fuel economy. However, given Chrysler’s current situation with pickups, they aren’t able to offer these perks with a midsized pickup because some of the full-size offerings already speak for these questions of better fuel economy, at least, which would otherwise be one of the main reasons to downsize to a midsize pickup.

That said, with midsize pickups, Hegbloom believes they need to offer at least 35 mpg on the highway in order to be justified.

Do you agree? The last time Chrysler offered a midsize pickup was a few years back with the last Dakota, which was discontinued in 2011. But that’s because it really wasn’t compelling period.

Source: AutomotiveNews