2022 Ram Dakota Comeback: What We Know So Far

Small pickup trucks are popular again in North America! So, it’s no wonder we’ve seen a lot of novelties in the last couple of years. The Ford Ranger already came back to the U.S. market, while Jeep Gladiator came as a brand-new model. Furthermore, Nissan Frontier is about to receive a complete overhaul after full 15 years. Therefore, it’s no wonder that something is also cooking in Ram’s kitchen. The popular truck maker is about to bring back a familiar nameplate, in the form of 2022 Ram Dakota. Those are the latest reports about the rumored midsize pickup truck that is coming from FCA.

The new model will come back after several years of hiatus. Although with a familiar nameplate, it will be a completely new model, which won’t have pretty much anything in common with the previous generation. The new model will compete in a fast-growing segment, so we expect to see a lot of interesting things, whether it’s about design or features.

2022 Ram Dakota Design

When it comes to 2022 Ram Dakota specs, not many things are known. At this point, we are still waiting for the officials to come up with some details about the new truck. Still, we can easily predict some of the key design characteristics of this pickup. Of course, one of the first things that come to mind is the platform and a good thing for Ram is that FCA already has an architecture for a vehicle of this size. Of course, we are talking about the same platform that underprints the new Jeep Gladiator and the current-generation Wrangler.

Still, that doesn’t mean we won’t see any differences. The 2022 Ram Dakota midsize pickup truck will also borrow a lot of design solutions from the full-size Ram 1500. This particularly refers to the styling, but we will get on it in a moment.

Exterior

When it comes to the exterior design, one of the first things that come to mind is the styling. Of course, we are talking about a mid-size pickup truck, so we expect pretty much typical dimensions for the segment. For example, the Gladiator features 137 inches in wheelbase, but keep in mind that it comes in a crew cab variant only. The new Dakota will most likely also come in a single cab layout, with different bed sizes, so we might see a variety of dimensions as well.

When it comes to the styling, we count on a lot of influence from the full-size 1500 model. Despite that the testing model still wears a camouflage, we are pretty sure that the final version will feature a familiar front face that characterized the current-generation of the full-size pickup truck. Moreover, the overall shape should be pretty similar, though in a smaller package. Naturally, we count on a portion of exclusive details as well.

Interior

On the inside, the new 2022 Ram Dakota should follow the path of its bigger sibling. This means we expect to see a well-designed and pretty opulent cabin, which hasn’t been the case with small pickup trucks so far. These vehicles used to be affordable work machines, but times are changing. Therefore, we expect the new model will utilize lots of quality materials and tech features. We presume that could be one of its key trumps in the competition with some already established names in the segment, such as Toyota Tacoma or Chevy Colorado, which still stick to a more traditional approach. As we already mentioned, the new pickup truck should come in both single and double cab layouts, with different bed sizes in the offer.

2022 Ram Dakota Engines

Under the hood, the 2022 Ram Dakota will stick with FCA’s familiar units. We have no doubt that the base engine will be a well-known 3.6-liter Pentastar V6. In the current Wrangler and Gladiator, it puts out around 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque, and comes in pair with either manual or automatic transmission. We expect the same setup from the new Dakota, while there is also a chance to see a mild-hybrid eTorque system in the offer as well.

The 2022 Ram Dakota Diesel is also expected. Of course, this model would use a familiar 3.0-liter turbodiesel, which puts out around 260 horsepower and 440 pound-feet of torque. Some sources also suggest the possibility to see FCA’s new turbo-four gasoline engine in the offer, but we don’t see this particularly likely.

2022 Ram Dakota Release Date and Price

When it comes to the 2022 Ram Dakota release date, the best we can say at this point is sometime in the next year. In terms of the price, our rough estimation would go around 30.000 dollars for the base model. The competition in the segment is fierce. Some of the key players are models like Toyota Tacoma, Chevy Colorado, Ford Ranger, Nissan Frontier etc.