ALL-NEW RAM Dakota Is Brilliant! So Why Is RAM Worried?

Ram is bringing back the Dakota, this time with up to 500 horsepower and a brilliant design. If you've been priced out of a full-size Ram, this truck is built to bring you back. Most people think a cheaper truck means a cheap cabin, but this one borrows its luxury straight from the 1500. The Dakota name is returning after a long break, and this time it wears a Ram badge instead of Dodge. Let's check it out. The last one rolled off the line in 2011. Back then, the midsize segment looked like a dying Dakota is back. category, but the market flipped completely. Therefore, the segment has been booming for years, with new products and growing buyer interest. Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis confirmed the comeback and called reviving the name a no-brainer. His reasoning is simple. Every major rival already sells a midsize truck. Ford, Chevy, GMC, Toyota, Nissan, and even Jeep. Ram is the only big truck brand standing on the sidelines. That's where the worry begins. According to Kuniskis, Ram needs an affordable in its lineup. He wasn't talking about a stripped-down, cheapened version of the full-size 1500. He was talking about a genuine midsize pickup built for buyers the 1500 simply can't reach. Think about a longtime Ram owner who wants something smaller. Maybe the driveway is tight, or the garage was It was built decades before trucks got this big. Right now, that buyer has only one option, to walk across the street to a Ford or Toyota dealer, and once a customer leaves a brand, getting them back is never easy. The new Dakota is coming to close that gap. It's going to sit on a traditional body-on-frame chassis, just like the Ranger in Colorado. That means no car-like unibody shortcuts like the ones found under the Honda Ridgeline. Instead, Ram is preparing a real truck, with strong work manners and an attractive price to match. A famous name will get buyers through the door, but it means nothing if the truck feels weak on the road, and that's where the engine comes in. Powertrain This is where the Dakota is set to make its first big statement. Base models will likely get a new version of the 2.0-liter Turbo 4 from the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Since Jeep and Ram share the same corporate roof, the move makes perfect sense. Few things are more stressful than a truck gasping up a long grade with a camper behind it. The engine screams. The speed drops and traffic starts stacking up in the mirror. That's why the Dakota's turbo-four is such good news. It's putting out 324 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque, and that pull arrives low in the rev range. Therefore, the Dakota should feel relaxed, exactly where many trucks start to struggle. The numbers look even better next to the competition. The base Ford Ranger is getting by with 270 horsepower and 310 pound-feet. So right from the entry level, the Dakota is going to have more muscle than its closest rival. Power will travel through an eight-speed automatic transmission. Buyers will also get part-time four-wheel drive, the kind of setup serious truck owners still prefer. It's simple, proven, and tough. Exactly what a work truck needs. So the base engine already beats the Ranger, but if you think that's strong, wait until you see what Ram is building to hunt down the Raptor. Dakota SRT coming. Yes. The Dakota is getting an SRT Performance version. Think of it as a smaller, more manageable take on the legendary Ram TRX, and its target is clear, the Ford Ranger Raptor. Under the hood, Ram is expected to install the Hurricane Twin Turbo inline-six, already found in other Ram pickups. In this application, it could easily produce 500 horsepower. That's a big problem for the Raptor, which tops out at 405 horsepower. Simply put, nearly 100 extra horsepower is going going to give Ford a serious headache. The upgrades won't stop at the engine. The SRT will bring a lifted, off-road-ready suspension, knobby tires, and a far more aggressive appearance. Four-wheel drive will be standard, of course. The body-on-frame structure is also likely to get extra reinforcement for high-speed punishment in the dirt. Ram doesn't plan to complicate things with multiple trim levels. There will be just one Dakota SRT. Buyers who want something unique will get various appearance packages and special Special editions instead. Pricing is expected to start around $65,000. That's not cheap. But for buyers who want TRX-style thrills without a full-size footprint, nothing else will come close. And for those who want the full-size beast, the TRX is returning too, now with 777 horsepower. 500 horsepower is going to grab the headlines, but power alone has never sold a Ram. The look and feel always do. Exterior design. On the outside, the Dakota is going to borrow heavily from the full-size Ram 1500. Expect the same bold face, the same muscular proportions, and the same confident stance. Only this time, everything is shrinking down to a size that fits real-world parking lots. That matters more than it seems. The 1500 is one of the most attractive, full-size trucks on the market. Therefore, a scaled-down version is likely to stand out in a class full of conservative designs. The Cabin is where Ram has been beating its rivals for years. The 1500 built its reputation on interiors that feel a full tier above the competition, and the Dakota is set to carry that same philosophy into the midsize segment. That's a big deal, because cabin quality has long been the weak spot in this class. Many midsize trucks still rely on hard plastics that feel cheap for the money. Even popular models costing well over $50,000 draw complaints about squeaks and rattles. For anyone who spends hours behind the wheel, those details add up quickly. A long highway trip in a stiff seat surrounded by hard plastic gets tiring fast. Ram's approach should be different, with soft materials, supportive seats, and plenty of convenience features. Upper trims like the Laramie and Limited are expected to bring genuine luxury, just like their full-size siblings. Big screens and modern tech will also follow the 1500's example, so the cabin is set to beat most rivals. But luxury means nothing if the truck can't handle mud and heavy trailers. That's the next test. Off-road performance? The Dakota is going to be a work truck first. The body-on-frame chassis will give it the strength for serious towing and hauling. With rivals like the Ranger rated up to 7,500 pounds, Ram knows exactly which number to chase. But work capability is only half the story. The Dakota is also getting strong off-road potential with plenty of standard and available equipment. Part-time four-wheel drive is the foundation, and the hardware list only grows from there. Anyone whose weekends end at a hunting spot or a lakeside cabin knows the problem. The pavement stops, and the last few miles turn into mud, ruts, and loose gravel. That's exactly where the confirmed Rebel trim is going to shine. In the Ram family, Rebel has always meant a factory-built off-roader, ready right off the lot. Expect a raised suspension, all-terrain tires, skid plates, and a locking rear differential. Hill descent control and dedicated off-road drive modes are also likely to join the list. All this hardware sounds expensive, but the price tag is where the Dakota is about to do the most damage. Release date and price. The new Dakota is coming next year, and the first trucks should be on the road by mid-next year. Over the coming months, Ram is expected to reveal more details step-by-step. As for pricing, the base Tradesman is expected to start around $35,000. That places it neatly alongside the Ford Ranger, which also starts at around $35,000. From there, the lineup is likely to follow the 1500's familiar formula. The Big Horn should come at around $38,000. The Laramie is expected near $42,000, while the Off-Road Rebel should land around $45,000. At the top, the Luxurious Limited is likely to cost around $48,000. Now compare that to the full-size Ram 1500, which starts at over $45,000. The gap is huge. Therefore, the Dakota is going to open the brand to buyers who simply couldn't afford a Ram before. So why is Ram worried? Because it's arriving late to a segment where every competitor already has loyal buyers. The Ranger, Tacoma, and Colorado have spent years building their reputations. For the Dakota, getting the price and quality right isn't optional. It's the only way in. The new Dakota is shaping up to be exactly what Ram has been missing for 15 years. It's bringing a muscular turbo-4 that beats the base Ranger, plus a 500-horsepower SRT aimed straight at the Raptor. It's also getting a 1500-inspired design, a cabin that should outclass most rivals, and real off-road hardware in the Rebel. And with a starting price of around $35,000, it's set to become one of the best values in the segment. On paper, everything lines up, but the mid-size segment has never been tougher, and the competition isn't going to wait. The only question left is simple. Can a famous name win buyers back, or did Ram wait too long? The competition is tougher than ever, and it goes way beyond work and utility. The segment unicorn, the Honda Ridgeline, is getting a full redesign, and you can check that one out in our next video. Famous for its unibody design approach, Honda's pickup is finally getting a look that's bold enough, along with smooth V6-based hybrid powertrain.