After a decade-long hiatus, Volkswagen is still looking for a way to return to the lucrative pickup truck segment in the United States. The newest Atlas SUV can give the brand the opportunity to build a unibody model aimed right at the award-winning Honda Ridgeline.
According to Left Lane New, the chief engineering officer of Volkswagen, Matthias Erb said that his team is currently evaluating the possibility to turn the new Atlas SUV into a pickup truck. If they manage to do it, people think that this new Atlas SUV model will fight head to head against the award-winning Honda Ridgeline which is the evolution of the Pilot.
The decision to move forward with this project hasn’t been made yet and Erb said the executives are still considering expanding Volkswagen’s United States lineup with a rugged body on frame model but not like Chevrolet Silverado. This model is currently being sold overseas. Volkswagen still has to decide if they will develop a pickup for the United States market in the upcoming years.
If Volkswagen decides to turn the new Atlas SUV model into pickup truck this means that they will share the same stretched version of Volkswagen’s highly modular MQB platform and the same four- and six-cylinder engines with Honda’s Ridgeline, Digital Trends reports. If they decide to transform this Atlas SUV model they will save significantly than creating one from scratch.
Volkswagen will also engineer the next generation of the Amarok with United States regulation in mind, but people think this is unlikely to happen because the current model won’t be on the United State’s market. Volkswagen is not committed to selling a truck in the United States but they are keeping the options on the table. The final decision is still not revealed.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
