Volkswagen could launch an electric pickup truck in the United States.
While featured on a recent episode of the Autoline After Hours podcast, Volkswagen of America senior vice president of product marketing and strategy Hein Schafer said the flexibility of the company’s MEB platform could allow it to venture into new segments of the auto industry, including the growing market for electric pickup trucks.
“[The MEB] does give us potentially the opportunity to bring some kind of small midsize pickup or maybe something a little bit larger,” Schafer revealed.
Schafer also said the German car manufacturer could even launch a large, all-electric pickup.
VW Atlas Tanoak Concept
“It wouldn’t be a myth to think potentially about something larger on the BEV platform, too,” he said. “If we do build a large SUV on the BEV platform, then a large pickup might also make sense.”
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As noted by Motor1, this isn’t the first time someone from VW has expressed interest in an electric pickup. In fact, VW’s board member for electric mobility, Thomas Ulbrich, stated in 2020 that such a vehicle was possible.
“Step by step our investigation and research makes us think it becomes more possible,” he said.
Of course, Volkswagen has a lot of other electric vehicles in the works for the U.S. market. Following the recent launch of the ID.4, the car manufacturer announced last week that a production version of the electric ID.Buzz van will come to America in 2023.