The market for pickups is opening up a bit these days. After years of American dominance, there seems to be a window opening up for smaller, foreign trucks, but VW won’t be sneaking in through that window.
The German automaker has officially confirmed that any plans it ever had to introduce a pickup truck to the North American market have officially been canned. Sorry VW aficionados.
The news came at the Chicago Auto Show, as Pablo di Si, the CEO of the Volkswagen Group of America, telling Motor Trend that a pickup is “not in the plans anymore.” Unfortunately, he did not provide any reasoning for the decision.
Read: VW’s North American Head Wants The U.S. To Get A New Pickup – But It May Not Happen
VW Atlas Tanoak pickup concept from 2018
When you think about it, a Volkswagen pickup isn’t the worst idea in the world. With the arrival of the Hyundai Santa Cruz, the surprising success of the Ford Maverick, and the serious effort being put into the Chevrolet Colorado and the Ford Ranger, it’s never been a better time for smaller pickup trucks.
Indeed, VW’s latest European pickup, the Amarok, is based on the Ford Ranger, meaning that it would likely be cost-effective to homologate it for American and Canadian buyers. And the automaker was interested in making a North American pickup happen, teasing us with the Atlas-based Tanoak at the New York Auto Show in 2018.
More: Ford Maverick Sales Explode In January, Outsells Toyota Tacoma
However, it wasn’t meant to be. While it isn’t quite clear why that is, it may have to do with another Volkswagen brand that is about to take off: Scout. Although the newest brand to emerge from within the VW Group has yet to release any products, we know that it’s working on both an electric SUV and a pickup truck variant. You can check out our rendering of what we think the production model of the Scout SUV will look like over here.
The company is being led by Scott Koegh, who was in charge of the Volkswagen Group when the Tanoak was unveiled. Whether he was the driving force behind the concept of a pickup, or the automaker feels that the Scout brand would satisfy its desire to entire the segment, is not clear, but we can’t help being sad about the Tanoak’s failure to launch.
