Volkswagen has been toying with the pickup segment since the 2000 Advanced Activity Concept (AAC), a prototype that blended a luxurious premium interior with… a truck. As Elvis monologued, honey why I've never known (you LIED when you said you loved me; and I had no cause to doubt you). Anyway, the AAC was more of a prelude for the Touareg than a serious design exercise for a production pickup. Almost a decade later, VW's finally going for it, offering a competitor to the Toyota Tacoma, Nissan Frontier, et al. Spy photographs indicate that the VeeDub will lose the chrome, Alcantara and all the rest of the upmarket bits that don't look so hot when they're splattered with mud. Black plastic fender flares, bumpers and mirror casings will provide the requisite heavy-duty attitude and affordable price (U.S. full-size pickups are as cheap as chips these days). It's expected to be available as a single cab and double cab– and even in a full SUV version. Is this the small pickup American pistonheads have been pining for?
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I expect a Ridgeline approach, ie no live rear axle, ie not a truck, more of a CUV with an open-air third row.
When it comes to cars and the car industry, I am fairly ignorant.
Having said that let me add this comment to this bit-o-news… WTF?
Really a truck… now?
The segment is shrinking, you are not really going to bring anything new to the table and you don’t have a presence in the North American market when it comes to anything other than cars.
Add to that the damage this would do to your CAFE numbers.
Hell you had to take the hell-hound’s mini-van.
My god I am missing the obvious – this will be like the Mitsu Raider – another Dakota badge job with VeeDub schnoz.
I hope it’s not another Tacoma/Frontier/Colorado/Dakota midsize clone. What we need is a small truck which is an new alternative to the Ranger, which is simple, practical, and inexpensive. The Golf of pickup trucks.
Such an offering would be much more amenable to VW’s image than a full-on off road truck.
The Rabbit pickup reincarnated would be an excellent move right now. Lots of trades people used those little Rabbit pickups for a long, long time. I still occasionally see them in action.
I agree Jthorner – and pop a diesel in the thing for the diesel fans.
It could be cheap and useful for those that need to haul around a few things from time-to-time that don’t need a large truck to do so (I.E. probably 80% of current mid to large size pickup owners)
Sehr ausgescheisnet! At least until some electronic gremlin strands you and three buddies at the campground with water rising on three sides and the only road out of the canyon quickly washing away. Hey, that sounds like a good summer action movie!
Is this thing even slated to hit the states? Last I heard it’s intended strictly for other markets.
I do agree with the sentiments that we need actual compact pickups again. It’s odd to think that trucks used to be much smaller (even the fullsize ones) yet they always did their jobs. Suddenly everything is TEH HUGE and we need it because work can’t get done otherwise!
Trucks should return to their roots and become vehicles for accomplishing work.
Is there a reason that none of the manufacturers have provided a legit alternative to the Ranger?
It seems like every single auto-related website out there has posters crying for the product.
I wanted a riff on the microbus.
Trucks should return to their roots and become vehicles for accomplishing work.
Now that’s just crazy talk.
The chopped Toureg looks much better than Subaru’s attempt a couple of years back.
Here is another variation for a small truck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ford_Courier.jpg
Just returned from the home center with a load of cinder blocks in the back of the 81 Caddy (Rabbit pickup.) Able to haul 1,400 lbs and still returning an honest 50 MPG empty.
Of course the anti-diesel crowd here will say “But diesel is 60 cents more than gas!”
@Mj0lnir :
There are rumors afoot that the reason Ford cancelled the Ranger is that they have plans in place to bring over the Ford Transit van and the related pickup.
Of course, if they do, they’ll probably “Americanize” it, and thus ruin it.
I’d pay the extra $.60/gallon to get 50 MPG and hauling capabilities like that.
Eggsalad-
I just meant that, in general, it seems that there’s a market that’s not being served.
Maybe Mahindra will hit it.
After living in India, Thailand, Nepal and many other developing countries, I can say that the basic 4WD trucks and SUVs are a blast to drive…offroad of course. After moving back to the US, the SUVs, etc here are overbaked in every dimension, with inflated price to match.
Son of a bitch, that’s an ugly vehicle.
@N85523
What is the advantage of having a live axle? Does it give more towing capacity? Or.. is it an ego thing? I don’t own a truck, because I don’t need it, so I really do have no idea.
Also, I’ve heard ‘real’ trucks have a separate frame construction or something of that sort so the cab can twist separate from the truck bed. I’m also wondering what the point of that is. It seems most trucks, including ones used for real work, go to the construction site and back. It’s not exactly 4-wheeling at Moab. You don’t need massive suspension articulation to get over the curb at the latest hotel construction site you’re working at. To me, it seems like another ego thing.
Someone who knows about trucks, please enlighten me.
From my understanding, both the live axle and the body-on-frame construction are about durability. Live axle suspension is dead simple and can take a lot of weight and abuse.
Body-on-frame makes body panels non-load-bearin, so you can just take them off and hammer out the dents.
Also, it means you can use the platform for all kinds of other things, like aftermarket bed replacements.
Maybe VW should worry about their basement dwelling reliability first. However, the current compact pickups are a bit long in the tooth (the Ranger especially so) so maybe they can gain some traction with this. Used to be VW was the entry door into the world of German sport sedans (i.e. jetta). Today VW is the ????
Adonis,
Body on frame means that when you overload it, you are less likely to bend the frame. In fact, the overall reliability will be better for body on frame because even without abuse, it holds up better of the long run. Body on frame vehicles are, in general, longer lasting.
The axle is for hauling and towing capacity, and driveability when heavily loaded.
Now, a very well designed and built uni-body with independent suspension could last longer than a body on frame one, but it would not be the expected outcome.
All I can say is that they need to bring an updated Rabbit pickup back. They brought the Rabbit back in hatchback form, so they should bring the truck back as well. I’ve always wanted a Rabbit pickup, but since they haven’t been available new for over 20 years in North America, there’s no point in trying to buy one that’s in rough shape off Ebay.
A Rabbit truck with a 2.0 litre TDI would be ideal, and I know they’d sell every one that was available.