‘Proper Truck at $40,000’ Ram CEO Shares Clues About the Dakota Skipping Affordable Basics
If you’re excited for the upcoming Ram Dakota, then it’s time to obsess over new clues. Ram CEO Tim Kunuskis has provided new teasers. While the new mid-size option flaunts capability, I worry that we won’t see a cheap work truck trim level.
The Ram Dakota should pack muscle at $40,000
Remember when mid-size trucks started for under $30,000? Oh, how far we’ve fallen from those days. Now, upon hearing clues about the upcoming Ram Dakota, affordability is a concern.
Ram CEO Tim Kunikis shares ‘It needs to be a proper truck. It needs to have towing capabilities. It needs to have the payload. It needs everything a truck buyer is looking for. It can’t be, you know, a car that you put a bed on.”
These capabilities will be available for around $40,000, while the 2026 Toyota Tacoma has an MSRP of around $32,000. Kunikis is targeting Tacoma to level the playing field. He admits Ram isn’t competing on a ‘third of the battleground’.
Also, he notes that truck sales haven’t been the same since the more affordable Ram 1500 Classic was cut. Kunikis wants to go all in with a real truck with real capability, just in a smaller size.
But if anything, the Tacoma and Maverick show that buyers are willing to sacrifice capability for a lower price point. I worry that the Dakota won’t have a bare-bones entry-level option that sits on steelies.
However, on an interesting note, the mid-size truck could go hybrid like the Maverick and Tacoma. Stellantis is watching the success of the Jeep Cherokee Hybrid to see if the powertrain will be a good fit for the Dakota.
According to The Drive, the new Dakota won’t have a V8 engine. But that’s no surprise. Mid-size trucks haven’t had V8 power in quite a while.
