Reading the PR piece on the 2004 then seeing the comments from many List
members leads me to conclude how far apart Chrysler's product planners are
concerning the Dakota, whether it be the 2004 or any beyond that, and so many of you.
I can only assume that Chrysler planners have some sort of computer record on
the demographic of their current Dakota owners and that based upon the
majority of them they have (hopefully) made their decisions on 2004 power trains and
all the rest. Obviously they have to keep two eyes on the competition in
this product segment too but we assume buyers have selected Dakota over its
competition because of what it offers that's important to them.
It seems that most of you view the Dakota from the standpoint of a personal
vehicle which must perform like a rocket and boast engine statistics to back up
such performance. Most of you moreover, want aftermarket suppliers to offer
a wide range of additional performance modifications. Some of you are into
off road activity and push snow around in the winter. A few pull good size
trailers with your boat aboard or whatever else.
But believe it or not, Dodge sells a great many Dakotas to be used as a
truck, a necessary companion for people to get their daily work done, in which
cases, exotic high performance dual overhead cams, a plethora of optional axle
ratios, massive way oversize tires and all the rest is utterly irrelevant. They
need a decently powered workhorse and little else and the 3.7 and 4.7 will
accomplish that in the majority of cases with ease.
Chrysler continues to be in deep hot water concerning its lack of
profitability. In times like this, the beancounters in the company pull lots of weight.
No doubt the 2004 Dakota announcement details reflect exactly this situation.
If the 2004 fails in your estimation to qualify as the hotrod you seek then
maybe Chrysler's planners found in their owner and potential buyer analysis
that the market for persons with interest far different from yours are where the
sales volume lies??
Paul Sahlin
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 06 2004 - 11:46:46 EST