The boss of the Volkswagen Group of America is very eager for the brand to launch a pickup truck in the U.S. market.
During a recent interview with Motor Authority, Pablo Di Si said that the car manufacturer continues to look at the wildly popular pickup truck market and said that any potential pickup sold in the U.S. would also have to be developed specifically for the local market.
Di Si says that VW’s board in Germany could be presented with plans for a U.S. pickup truck in the third quarter of 2023.
The Volkswagen Group of America boss seems to have been spurred on by the success of the Atlas SUV which was both designed and developed in the U.S. It is also manufactured in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
This isn’t the first time that Pablo Di Si has expressed his desire to launch a pickup truck in the U.S. In November last year, has noted that dealers are clamoring for such a model and that the company has the “knowledge” to produce a pickup.
Read: VW’s North American Head Wants The U.S. To Get A New Pickup – But It May Not Happen
Volkswagen is working on both an electric SUV and an electric pickup for the U.S. market but both will be launched through the new Scout brand.
As of November, the global head of the Volkswagen brand, Thomas Schäfer, didn’t seem convinced of the idea of a U.S. pickup.
“At the moment, our focus on the lineup doesn’t include it,” he said at the time. “At the moment, 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.”
