Despite an increasingly tight relationship with Ford and the red-hot truck market, VW says it won’t bring a new truck to the US.
If you’re a carmaker with an electric pickup truck, the North American market can seem like a gold mine. That might feel especially true if you’re a dealer for one of the carmakers who doesn’t have a truck to sell in the US— and extra especially true if the brand you sell has a successful light truck for sale in other markets.
Imagine the frustration Volkswagen dealers face, then. Not only does VW offer a compelling small pickup overseas (the Amarok), they have a highly publicized partnership with Ford, who make both the Ford F-150 Lightning and compact Maverick Hybrid— either one of which could form the basis for a Volkswagen-branded EV for US dealers to sell.
Alas, it’s not gonna happen (worry, VW dealers).
“At the moment, our focus on the lineup doesn’t include [a pickup],” Schafer told Automotive News during a roundtable before the Los Angeles Auto Show. “(We) have a clear lineup all the way through the second half of this decade. Then again, in the American market, if you don’t play in certain segments, then you have to stay in a certain market share area. But the question of [VW’s new Rugged SUV platform] is not our priority at the moment.”
VW dealers will have to swallow this pill, along with the one about the reborn International Scout brand, and make do with the ID. lineup, until at least 2030.
Volkswagen Tarok Concept (2019)
SOURCE | MORE IMAGES: VW, VIA MOTOR1.
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