Dodge Dakota

Automotive News wrote, in a story with no byline, that Fiat will work with Mitsubishi, not Chrysler, on a new medium-sized (by American standards) pickup for Europe and Latin America. Based on the Mitsubishi L200, it is to go on sale starting in 2016; the country of assembly has not yet been announced, but Mitsubishi builds them in Thailand. Fiat would likely build them in Brazil if it actually makes them, or could simply buy them from Mitsubishi with altered grilles and such.

Fiat Professional’s top seller was the Fiat Strada front wheel drive, unibody pickup, built in Brazil; the company sold just 134,000 of them last year. The Mitsubishi is a rear wheel drive, body-on-frame pickup with a 4x4 option.

A one-ton pickup was in both the Fiat 2006 and 2010 plans, and in Chrysler’s 2012 plan; in the 2006 Fiat plan, it was to be based on a Tata, and in 2010 and 2012, it was to be codeveloped with a new Dodge Dakota. The Five Year Plan unveiled in 2014 has a similar pickup arriving in 2016, but it is apparently not to be a Ram, though Chrysler has expertise in trucks of similar size.  Automotive News article