Volkswagen divulged to Autoblog and a small group of media on the Chicago Auto Show at this time that it’s wanting into making a pickup truck. This isn’t the primary time in current historical past VW has threatened to greenlight a pickup — the corporate was talking a similar tune back in 2019 when it unveiled the Tarok Concept, however nothing ever materialized. Perhaps issues will probably be completely different this time?
“So, the very first thing we needed to do was be certain that we spherical out the electric vehicle SUV portfolio,” Hein Scafer, SVP of Product Advertising and Technique began. “And the subsequent request I feel charged onto the board is in fact we would like a pickup truck. Please speak. Let’s get it. Let’s get a pencil into it man.”
VW stated it will likely be making selections within the second half of the yr, so maybe there could possibly be some extra information out later in 2023. What type would this pickup take? It’s nonetheless up within the air, however VW’s new CEO of America provided some clarifications.
“It might not be a combustion,” Pablo Di Si, VW CEO of America stated. “Let me outline, electrified. It may be electrical. It may be a plug-in. It can’t be a combustion engine. That is for certain.”
So we’re all on the identical web page, Di Si is actually saying that VW would by no means put out a purely combustion engine pickup truck. As an alternative, it will be both a plug-in hybrid or a purely electric truck. For now, VW isn’t committing to both route. One other factor that Di Si made very clear is that it received’t have something to do with the electrical pickup that Scout has already introduced — this is able to be a VW mission.
The dimensions of the car is partly in query, however it goes with out saying that VW isn’t going to try to tackle the full-size pickup section the place the F-150, Silverado and Ram 1500 reign supreme.
“What section? Hey, we’re nonetheless enjoying round,” Di Si stated. “Yeah, we’ve got not selected the segments. It is one other query. It depends upon the platform as effectively. Relying on the platform you will have is how a lot house you are going to have. We’re open to this, however the one factor that it’ll not be is a gasoline or diesel engine.”
If VW decides the compact pickup section is the place it needs to play, which is the almost certainly situation, it’s going to have the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick to take care of. Di Si laid out just a few completely different platforms it would use, they usually’re all unibody.
“So clearly we have to leverage present platforms inside VW, having stated that we will be all choices,” Di Si stated. “You’ve gotten the Atlas platform, we’ve got the Taos platform. You’ve gotten different platforms that we’ve got not launched but. So the necessary factor is that … the car is developed within the area for the area. So it can’t be a growth from Europe, or Asia and introduced right here. They must be accomplished with clinics within the U.S.”
VW famous that autos it designed particularly for the U.S. market carry out higher right here due to it. Who would’ve thought? Like all far-reaching plans like this, take this information with a grain of salt. VW clearly has some ideas on pickups, however the product is only theoretical at this stage.
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