The company has talked about adding a pickup to its lineup for a few years already.
This model would likely be based on the next generation of the Atlas, which is still years away.
VW says the next Atlas and this pickup will be hybrids.
Rumours have been going around about a possible pickup from Volkswagen for a while, and it seems the automaker’s North American arm wants to make this model a reality.
The company wants to enter this segment in order to benefit from the recent popularity of smaller pickups in the United States and Canada.
According to Pablo Di Si, CEO of VW of North America, the proposal for an upcoming pickup will be presented to the automaker’s board in Germany during the third quarter of the year.
The executive said that for a future pickup to be successful, it has to be engineered and built in North America, like the Atlas three-row SUV.
It isn’t surprising then that the current plans call for the pickup to be built on the same unibody platform as the next generation of the Atlas.
Since the current model has just been reworked for 2024, this means that a future VW pickup is still at least a few years away.
Like the next Atlas, this model will be powered by either a hybrid or plug-in hybrid powertrain, the latter of which could help make it more affordable than gasoline-powered competitors.
Indeed, if the batteries used in a PHEV pickup built in America are also manufactured using American content, VW would benefit from incentives that could help lower the vehicle’s price.
This is not the first time the idea was floated by the automaker, which unveiled the Tanoak concept for an Atlas-based pickup in 2018.
Considering the timing in which this pickup could arrive on the market and the fact that it will be electrified, Volkswagen could decide to sell it under its upcoming Scout brand.
This would make sense since Scout will be a brand focused on building rugged electric trucks and SUVs which should be introduced in 2026.
Considering truck buyers often like their vehicles to have a more outdoorsy appearance and share their name with similar products, a Scout-branded pickup could generate more interest than one wearing the VW logo.
Source: Motor Authority
