Volkswagen badly wants a pickup in america, however its prime executives seem to have totally different opinions on this subject.
The corporate’s new North America head Pablo Di Si thinks VW US sellers are proper to demand a pickup truck, and believes any new pickup that Volkswagen probably brings to market must be electrified. Utilizing the purpose-built EV platform that Volkswagen Group is designing for Scout Motors, its impartial US model, appears like a good suggestion, however issues are extra difficult than that.
Chatting with Automotive Information, Di Si acknowledged {that a} pickup, though badly wanted, just isn’t on prime of Volkswagen’s precedence listing.
“What are the related segments within the U.S.? SUVs and pickups. Are we going to have a pickup? I’ll attempt. Do we’ve got one now? No. Proper now, my focus is on strengthening the SUV portfolio. I’ll tackle pickups on the proper time, however proper now, I’ve different points to deal with.”
Whereas the former head of Volkswagen North America and current CEO of Scout Motors, Scott Keogh, advised Automotive Information in Could that the Scout platform might present a chance for different Volkswagen Group automobiles, that does not look more likely to occur anytime quickly.
Scout Motors electrical SUV and pickup teaser
Volkswagen Passenger Automobiles’ international CEO Thomas Schäfer made that every one too clear to a small group of journalists at a roundtable dialogue earlier than the Los Angeles Auto Present.
“For the time being, our concentrate on the lineup does not embrace it. For the time being, we’ve got a transparent lineup all over the second half of this decade. Then once more, within the American market, if you don’t play in sure segments, then you need to keep in a sure market share space. However the query of [VW’s new Rugged SUV platform] just isn’t our precedence in the meanwhile.”
Assuming Volkswagen Group does ultimately resolve to share Scout Motors’ platform with a Volkswagen model pickup, that will not occur till late within the decade, since Scout is expected to launch its first product in 2026.
There’s nonetheless hope for a Volkswagen pickup truck in america, nevertheless, as one can depend on Pablo Di Si to combat for making it attainable. The Argentinian, who headed up Volkswagen’s Latin American area earlier than taking on North America on September 1, was chargeable for the VW Tarok Concept proven on the 2019 New York Auto Present.
The compact unibody pickup research has come up in discussions with US sellers as a risk for the market, Di Si admitted. Now, it does not take a lot creativeness to comprehend the Tarok would make a great candidate for Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform, nevertheless it stays to be seen if the automaker is contemplating such a risk.
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