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Bruce Newton4 Aug 2020
NEWS

Volkswagen still looking at baby ute

US boss flags continued interest in reborn Rabbit pick-up

A baby Volkswagen ute to take on the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz continues to be ‘looked at’ by the German manufacturer’s North American subsidiary.

But even if it get the green light we’re unlikely to see such a vehicle in Australia, as the local VW division prefers to focus on the bigger and more capable Amarok.

Volkswagen Group of America has hinted at this ambition with its 2019 Tarok concept, backed up by CEO Scott Keogh suggesting a $US25,000 (about $A35,000) starting price.

VW also has a historic connection to the US small pick-up market, spinning a ute from the Golf (or Rabbit, as it was known in the USA) in 1979.

Keogh suggested such a vehicle would need to come to market “with Volkswagen style, good packaging, great fuel economy, great enthusiasm.

“I think you see Ford is discussing this and Hyundai is obviously doing one as well. It’s something worth looking it,” he told Autoline This Week.

Keogh suggested the other alternative could be an electrified ute, but he was clearly more excited about an orthodox ‘junior Amarok’ and its potential to capture a new-generation of small car buyers.

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“If you look at what VW did with the Rabbit/Golf, with the Jetta, those segments really drained, got significantly smaller. Could we bring that back to life with a pick-up/lifestyle vehicle?

“I think we could.”

But VW’s Australian arm remains focussed on the larger Amarok pick-up, arguing it the preference of Australian buyers.

“In utes Australians desire capacity under the bonnet and in the back – 89 per cent of Amarok sales are V6s and you can get a pallet between the wheel-arches,” said spokesman Paul Pottinger.

“We don’t see an opening for a compact variant.”

One thing Keogh made clear VW wasn’t interested was going up against the likes of the Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado in the full-size pick-up segment.

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“For us to go into the teeth of a brutally competitive segment and say ‘here comes Volkswagen’ frankly isn’t going to work,” he said.

“There is a reason the C pick-up segment is 80 per cent domestic; they do a good job there, they have got it covered and I don’t know if we can differentiate it.

“So frankly the question is where can we differentiate in order to attack this market opportunity?”

An orthodox small VW ute would likely be based on the MQB front/all-wheel drive architecture, giving designers and engineers huge amounts of powertrain and footprint flexibility.

Alternatively, VW and Ford could extend their tech alliance in utes beyond the next Ranger and Amarok to the smaller ute segment.

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MQB-based vehicles are currently made in North America at plant in Puebla, Mexico, and Chattanooga in the US state of Tennessee.

VW’s new US plant, at Chattanooga in Tennessee, builds the larger Atlas SUV on a lengthened version of MQB.

“That smaller platform sits in Puebla already, so it’s easier to make it down there … versus Chattanooga where we would have to modify or launch an all-new platform.

“The cost basis is a little better in Puebla, but the USMCA [free trade agreement] basis is a little better in Chattanooga.

“But we would run the math.”

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