Next Dodge Dakota

…and its a Diesel!

• There will be a new-generation Dodge Dakota midsize pickup; it’s a better-than-even chance it will not be based on a traditional body-on-frame architecture, though.
• Same goes for diesel power for the new Dakota — Chrysler’s CEO said the company is doubling down on diesels in the U.S., particularly for Jeep.
• Chrysler’s large cars will remain rear-wheel drive.

DETROIT — Now that Chrysler’s Dodge Dakota is officially out of production, Chrysler-Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show dealing out some talk about what a next-generation Dakota is likely to encompass. First, though, take it as a positive that Chrysler’s even talking about a next-gen Dakota at all, given the depths to which the midsize pickup segment has sunk in the past several years.

At the Detroit show on Monday, Marchionne said matter-of-factly in a session with reporters that there will be a new Dakota — and that it’s a “better than 50-percent chance” that it will be based on a carlike unibody structure rather than a traditional body-on-frame architecture. That’s either a good or bad thing, depending on your vector about what a midsize pickup needs to be able to do. If you think a unibody Dakota is a good idea, then it gets better: the Chrysler CEO also said chances are good a diesel engine will be offered for the new Dakota.

Get used to more diesels at Chrysler, he added, particularly for Jeep now that the company confirmed last week that a diesel-powered Grand Cherokee is coming. Marchionne said that once the development cash was spent for the diesel-engine Grand, it will be a cost-maximizing move to extend diesel power to other Jeeps, particularly the Wrangler, which already is sold in Europe almost exclusively with diesel power.

It’s not surprising Chrysler’s committed to a next-gen of the Dakota, given that chief rival General Motors confirmed last year it will return to the U.S. market with the Colorado midsize pickup in 2013, using an all-new, second-generation body-on-frame Colorado developed largely for Asia and Latin American markets — and that when launched in Thailand last fall, had only diesels as its engine options. The U.S.-spec Colorado will be built at GM’s assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri. This leaves Ford, which at the end of 2011 pulled down the curtain on production of the Ranger, as the last of Detroit’s Big Three automakers to remain uncommitted to a midsize pickup.

In other Chrysler developments:

• Marchionne said engineering is finished for the next-generation Jeep Liberty and although he wouldn’t reveal what the redesigned Liberty will be named, he was adamant he doesn’t want it to be called Liberty. He suggested a name with specific Jeep heritage — let’s say Cherokee — probably will be the choice for the vehicle that will go into production toward the end of this year.
• Chrysler (and Fiat) are committed to rear-wheel drive (yes!) for its large, E-segment cars such as the Chrysler 300. Rear-drive large cars for Chrysler and various Fiat brands such as Alfa and Maserati probably will be built in the same Brampton, Ontario, assembly plant.
• Speaking of Maserati and names Marchionne hates, he stressed today that the production version of the Jeep Grand Cherokee-based Maserati SUV will not carry the concept car’s moniker of Kubang, which he said he agreed with the rest of the world is a stupid name.
• The concept Chrysler 700C Chrysler unveiled at the Detroit auto show definitely is an indicator of Chrysler’s thinking regarding the future direction of minivans. Marchionne said minivans have been stigmatized as uncool, leading him to add, “I don’t like the smell of the (minivan) market today.” He said Chrysler is working to redefine the minivan to make it more hip and more desirable — and that a radical new-generation model line reflecting the new thinking could be ready as soon as the end of 2013.

Inside Line says: Chrysler’s making savvy, pragmatic product decisions these days. Maybe this Marchionne fella does know what he’s talking about.