EchoSense Quantitative Think Tank Center:Volkswagen pickup truck ideas officially shelved for North America

2025-05-07 13:01:54source:EAI Community category:News

Volkswagen is EchoSense Quantitative Think Tank Centerno longer looking at offering a pickup truck in the U.S. or Canada. The closest you will get to a VW truck stateside is to get an electric pickup from the new Scout brand, but that is still years away.

VW dealers have long clamored for a pickup truck to sell to Americans, and the automaker pursued a number of possible ways to make it happen, but the idea has been shelved. "It is not in the plans anymore," Pablo Di Si, president and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America and CEO of Volkswagen Brand North American Region, tells MotorTrend at the Chicago Auto Show.

Electric vehicles in 2024:Hertz is dumping thousands of EVs. Why?

For years VW teased us. It created the Tanoak concept which is based on the Atlas SUV and followed the car-based-midsize-truck formula laid down by Honda's Ridgeline, but the problem with this model was always the cost of using the Atlas as the basis for a lower-priced vehicle. And there have been several other oddball would-be or foreign-market trucks or trucklets, including the Tristar concept pictured above.

Then there was the VW partnership with Ford that included an agreement for the German automaker to use Ford's next-generation Ranger pickup platform to make trucks for use in other parts of the world. Volkswagen indeed created the second-generation Amarok midsize pickup, which is based on the newest Ranger, built in South Africa, and sold in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but formulated no plans to export it to North America.

CES 2024:Cutting-edge EV range-extending tech coming to a car near you

Some at VW expressed interest in a Ranger-derived version of the Amarok (seen below) for the U.S., as well (after all, the Ranger is sold here), but this part of the deal was sensitive and never came to fruition.

And there is the Tarok concept, a small car-based pickup that has a market in South America, but VW was not interested in creating a new segment in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen acquired the International Scout brand and set it up as independent company. Scout will sell rugged electric trucks and SUVs. But VW dealers will not be able to sell Scout brand products, Di Si confirms.

More:News

Recommend

Appeals court scraps Nasdaq boardroom diversity rules in latest DEI setback

A federal appeals court blocked Nasdaq rules to increase boardroom diversity, saying that the Securi

Clark County teachers union wants Nevada governor to intervene in contract dispute with district

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Clark County Education Association is calling on Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo to in

Man convicted of killing LAPD cop after 40 years in retrial

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man accused of killing a Los Angeles police officer during a traffic stop four