- Volkswagen CEO ‘won’t rule out’ a pickup truck.
- The compact and mid-size truck segments are ripe for more competition, since the full-size market is a tough spot to crack.
- VW believes a vehicle in either segment could be successful.
The pickup truck segment is a particularly lucrative one in the United States. The Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado are seemingly locked in first and second places in the list of bestselling vehicles.
Naturally, other automakers want their own slices of that lucrative pie. At the 2026 New York Auto Show, Hyundai reiterated its pledge to build a midsize, body-on-frame pickup for the US market by 2030. At the same show, Volkswagen Group of America’s CEO said he “wouldn’t rule out” the idea of a pickup.
Asked about VW’s past pickup concepts at a media roundtable, CEO Kjell Gruner had this to say:
‘Of course, if a market is that size, you can’t just say, I’m going to ignore it, and we don’t. So of course, we look at that. We look at C-pickup, B-pickup, et cetera. You know, how are these segments developing? And I wouldn’t want to rule it out at all… a pickup truck is not ruled out.’
It’s interesting that Gruner specifically mentioned B- and C-segment pickups, which are typically unibody and could leverage VW Group’s existing MQB architecture. Current competitors in this class include the Ford Maverick and Ram Rampage, which isn’t available stateside. There’s also Hyundai’s Santa Cruz, which goes out of production this year. The field is expected to grow soon, with Slate’s barebones Truck entering at a supposed $25,000 price point.
VW’s 2019 Tarok concept previewed a move in this direction, and it plans to produce the Tukan for the South American market starting next year.
A size class up, the unibody Honda Ridgeline spars with the more traditionally trucklike Ford Ranger, Chevy Colorado, and Toyota Tacoma. A new Ram Dakota is expected to join the fray next year, and Subaru has hinted at a new Baja. Volkswagen has shown off concepts in this class before, most recently the Atlas Tanoak concept in 2018.
Asked whether a new pickup would be unibody or body-on-frame, VW Group’s American CEO said “both can be successful” and it depends on the application:
‘It depends a bit what we want to do with it, because body-on-frame helps, of course, if you want to go more off road and rugged, versus on-road positioning [with] unibody. Also, you could leverage existing unibody platforms. So… they have pros and cons. There’s not one clear-cut solution.’
Volkswagen Atlas Tanoak Concept
An MQB-based unibody truck would be most likely, as VW doesn’t have any body-on-frame platforms at the ready. As for what would power a VW pickup truck, it’s likely a version of the brand’s longstanding EA888 2.0-liter 4-cylinder, with or without a hybrid boost. It would likely be produced in Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee, assembly plant to avoid hefty tariffs.
Gruner declined to say whether any future Volkswagen pickup would be related to Scout’s offering, noting only that they’re “separate companies [with] separate product decisions.”
Motor1’s Take: Volkswagen hasn’t sold a pickup truck in the US since the Rabbit Pickup (known as the Caddy internationally) left production in 1984. It has sold the mid-size Amarok internationally since 2010, but it would be great to see the brand re-enter the North American pickup market.
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