Ram Confirms The Dakota Name Is Coming Back For Its New Mid-Size Truck

Good morning! It's Friday, December 19, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition, Dodge gives its next-generation mid-size pickup truck a name we're all familiar with, Ford doubles down on Super Duty production at a Canadian plant despite tariffs, the EU's decision to give up on its 2035 ICE vehicle ban probably won't change the all-electric future that has already been set in motion and — would you look at that — Ford is issuing another huge recall with just a few days left in the year.

It has been 14 years since Ram dropped the Dakota and the entire mid-size pickup truck segment, but we're now learning that both will rise from the ashes in 2027 and make their grand return. Ram CEO and human 5-hour Energy Tim Kuniskis confirmed the news during a media event earlier this week. 

We already knew Ram was planning to re-enter the mid-size pickup space, but it didn't have a name until now. Of course, there were plenty of rumors that the new truck would be called the Dakota, but nothing was confirmed.  From Car And Driver:

While the news isn't all that surprising to anyone who follows Ram or knows pickups, it's the latest nugget leading up to the mid-size truck's official debut. We don't yet know when that will be, but the new Ram Dakota is slated to enter production sometime in 2027 at the company's factory in Belvidere, Illinois. Not only will the truck feature a body-on-frame construction, but it will also offer multiple powertrains, which are expected to include a traditional gas engine as well as a plug-in hybrid setup.

Along with revealing the name of its upcoming mid-size truck, Kuniskis also suggested that it will be priced around $40,000. Compared with the current base prices of trucks in that segment—such as the Chevy Colorado, Ford Ranger, and Toyota Tacoma, which all start at about $35K—Ram's entry will be a little pricier. However, considering how new-car prices typically rise every year, that gap will likely close between now and when the 2028 Ram Dakota goes on sale.

Over three generations and 25 model years, "Dakota" could be seen on the back of every mid-size Dodge/Ram truck, so it would feel wrong if the new one had a different name, wouldn't it?

I beg you to read the rest of The Morning Shift before you head down to the comments section to complain about how it would be offered with a single cab or a manual transmission. 

Ford is set to resume production at one of its Canadian assembly plants near Toronto — undeterred by U.S. tariffs that have caused other automakers to scale back their operations in Canada. A spokesperson for The Blue Oval said that Ford's $2.2 billion retooling project at the Oakville Assembly Complex is proceeding as planned, and the comapny expectts to build its first F-Series Super Duty pickups there next year.

Initially, Ford was going to build a three-row EV in Oakville, but that plan was killed in mid-2024. Instead, the company decided to add production capacity for the F-Series Super Duty. It currently builds them at plants in Ohio and Kentucky, but can't come close to keeping up with demand. It's projected that Ford will build about 80,000 trucks per year at Oakville From Automotive News:

Pressing ahead with the retool puts Ford's tariff strategy at odds with other members of the Detroit Three in Canada. Stellantis paused its retooling project at its Brampton Assembly Plant in February as tariff uncertainty mounted, and has since shifted the Jeep Compass program planned for the Toronto-area plant to the United States. General Motors said it will eliminate the third shift at its Oshawa Assembly Plant next year in response to tariffs.

Ford, meantime, has barreled ahead with construction in Oakville.

In a recent memo to unionized staff at the plant, Oakville Plant Manager Kyle Cruji said the exterior of the site's new stamping plant is nearly complete, with interior work underway to clear the way for equipment. In the notice to workers at the plant, which Unifor Local 707 shared with membership Dec. 9, Cruji said the company is working through the equipment purchase process for the plant's body and final assembly areas.

The bulk of the plant's workforce of roughly 3,200 hourly staffers has been on layoff since spring 2024, when the final Ford Edge rolled off the line.

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Tariffs of 25 per cent on medium and heavy-duty trucks entering the United States complicate the assembly picture for Ford in Oakville, but do not derail its plans, [an analyst] said.

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While Ford will begin with gasoline and diesel-powered Super Duty production at the Canadian plant, the automaker has signaled alternative powertrains will follow. The current retooling project will pave the way for a "fully flexible" plant capable of building "multienergy" Super Duty pickups starting with the next generation in the late 2020s, the company said when launching the program in 2024.

Ford's wider pickup lineup is also moving in this direction. As it canceled the F-150 Lightning program Dec. 15, the company said it would build an extended-range electric version of the popular pickup. The technology, which Ford said is coming to its larger trucks and SUVs, relies on electric motors to turn the wheels, but has a gasoline generator to power the motors.

There is still a lot that remains unclear about the situation at Oakville. Back in 2024, Ford said it would build up to 100,000 trucks annually at the plant while employing about 1,800 workers. That works out to be just over half of its previous workforce. 

The capacity of the plant also leaves room for future products. In 2023, the site built about 160,000 vehicles, and before the Pandemic, it was cranking out about 250,000 vehicles per year.

Experts aren't terribly worried about Europe's decision to renege on its 2035 internal combustion engine ban. Despite the shift that allows for Europe's legacy automakers to spend more time selling hybrids, many still believe EVs are firmly still the future for the bloc. From Reuters:

Before Tuesday's news, consultancy AlixPartners forecast Europe's fully-electric cars would only make up 62% of sales by 2035 because it was not convinced the ban could be enforced.

Partner Nick Parker said he did not expect any major changes to the consultancy's forecast.

A slower transition to electric would, however, give markets time to build charging infrastructure, one of the main reasons for the slow take-up of EVs.

EU fully-electric car sales rose by 25.7% year-on-year through October, accounting for 16.4% of all sales, according to industry data. They make up a tiny portion of overall sales in southern and eastern Europe.

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Brussels [...] proposed a new category of small EVs with extra credits for models built in Europe – concessions that industry analysts say deliver much of what carmakers lobbied for.

"The Commission has allowed Europe's car industry to make choices and have a chance to compete," said Phil Dunne, a managing director at consultancy Grant Thornton Stax.

"Hopefully it allows Europe's industry to catch up with the Chinese" with cost-competitive EVs, he added.

Premium brands such as Mercedes and BMW will have longer to sell plug-in hybrids before selling only full EVs.

With a wide range of smaller models, such as the Fiat 500 and Clio, Stellantis and Renault should benefit from the new subsidised category of small EVs for the continent's city-dwellers.

It's going to be very interesting to see how this all shakes out. I mean, automakers have spent countless billions designing EVs and getting their factories ready for the 2035 deadline. Now, it's an all-new world. I could see them forging ahead anyway, but I also wouldn't be surprised if they take advantage of the extra time they'll have to sell far more marketable ICE vehicles.

Would you look at that! Ford is giving its owners another recall — just in time for Christmas! This time, the automaker is recalling 272,645 vehicles because the park function might not work. When that happens, well, the darn thing might just roll away, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. From Reuters:

The Dearborn, Michigan-based company is recalling certain 2022-2026 F-150 Lightning BEV, 2024-2026 Mustang Mach-E, and 2025-2026 Maverick vehicles, as the integrated park module may fail to lock into the park position when the driver shifts into park, according to the NHTSA.

The park module software will be updated over-the-air or by a dealer free of charge, NHTSA added.

For those keeping count at home, this is now the 145th recall Ford has issued this year, and, honestly, I'm just impressed at this point. It's blown out the rest of the competition. I mean, second place is Stellantis was a paltry 51 recalls. From there, GM has 26, Volkswagen has 24, and Honda has 21. It's not even close. Nobody is doing it like Ford.

History.com

I know it's not really the same thing, but I watched "The Muppet Christmas Carol" movie for the first time last year, and it was magical. Despite the fact that Charles Dickens died 85 years before The Muppets were introduced to the world, I'm sure he'd agree that this version far outshines his original. In any case, if you want to learn more about the original 1843 story, head over to History.com.

Listen, I am not this song's biggest fan, but it would be a travesty to do an entire month of Christmas "On the radios" and leave it off. I mean, it sort of is the Christmas song, for better or worse. Is it overplayed? Sure, but even I can admit it's still a bop every once in a while.