Volkswagen will reveal a pickup truck concept at this week's New York auto show, signalling the brand's desire to get back into a North American segment in which it last competed with a Rabbit-based pickup in the 1980s.
According to Automotive News, the new concept will preview a mid-size model that would compete with the likes of the Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon and Toyota Tacoma.
The truck concept is said to be based on the same MQB platform as the Atlas mid-size crossover, front-wheel drive architecture that would give the new VW something in common with the Honda Ridgeline — and that old Rabbit trucklet.
Fuelling this report is the fact that VW earlier this year filed a trademark application for the Amarok name with the U.S. patent office, suggesting a possibility the new truck will share that badge with a mid-size truck Volkswagen sells in almost every market but the US.
Volkswagen has already made official one of its NY debuts, that being a five-seat Atlas concept that will give the automaker a player in the meat of the mid-size crossover market. The current three-row model lives at the large end of that category.
Volkswagen isn't the only brand bringing back a past in pickups. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles executives last week told its dealers that Jeep's Wrangler-based truck will be in showrooms in about a year from now, following production scheduled to start in late 2018.
VW would also join its German compatriots at Mercedes-Benz in the mid-size pickup fray, whose X-Class truck recently went on sale in overseas markets.
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