The German automaker brought the Amarok to market five years ago, achieving apparent success across the globe but without attempting to take on General Motors and Ford in the US.
The company is now reconsidering a foray into the world’s largest pickup market, as VW North America CEO Michael Horn notes “it’s a question mark, but it starts to be discussed,” according to quotes posted by Autoblog.
“Let’s put it this way: we start to discuss it again and whether it’s attractive for us,” Horn added, though he cautioned that the company still considers the Amarok “too small for the US.”
The company last year introduced an extended-bed version of its pickup truck, labeled the “Double Cab XXL” edition, adding more than a foot to the passenger compartment and stretching the bed length to 87 inches. This extended model never made its way to Western shores, however.
VW may be considering a history lesson from another foreign automaker, Toyota, that has changed its US pickup strategy over the past decade. After introducing the Tacoma as a compact offering in the mid ’90s, Toyota later found more success with the full-size Tundra in the early aughts. The company subsequently beefed up the Tacoma, repositioning it in the midsize segment.
VW has yet to disclose if its shifting truck strategy for the US involves a redesigned version of the Amarok or an entirely new pickup built to compete against dominant full-size offerings from Detroit.
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