According to an executive of Volkswagen North America, the company has no interest in competing with the likes of the new Ford Maverick or Hyundai Santa Cruz.
Both unitized-body trucks come based on light passenger car chassis, are convenient to drive in the city, and pack numerous cutting-edge assists and tech features. From a purely technical point of view, this puts them closer to crossover SUVs with truck beds than full-fledged trucks. High pre-order statistics suggests that this kind of transports could be quite viable.
VW introduced a compact-sized pickup named Tarok Concept at the Sao-Paolo Auto Show three years ago (watch the video and look at the photos for a reminder). The MQB-based car was also present at the NAIAS expo in New York City in 2019. As it turns out now, the concept may never become a production vehicle, after all.
Instead, the German corporation wants to focus on improving the already existing ICE cars and accelerate the development of EVs, rather than spending money on a comparatively niche sub-category of small-sized trucks. Having said that, VW does not exclude the possibility of releasing such a model in future – but only as an all-electric vehicle.