This one really slipped under my radar...

http://www.expertmotor.com/news/volkswagen...t-revealed.html

It's called simply the Volkswagen Pickup Concept. It's a pretty big pickup truck (5.18 meters long, which puts it just a few inches shorter than a crew cab Tacoma) but it's not being sold in the US when it starts production in 2009...just South America and Europe. I think VW would be smart to potentially offer it here with some clean turbocharged petrol motors and/or some clean modern diesels and really make a killing in the midsized pickup market.

+1 on a clean diesel North American apllication. Think 5 speed 4cyl diesel with a big turbo. mmmm 300 ft lbs of torque, 35 mpg.... SOLD!

big and ugly. especially the interior...grayer than death.

There is no way that VW would sell that here, much less sell any if they brought it over. VW likes it's upscaleish image and a pickup is the wrong way to convey that, especially with that interior. Even if it performed better that it's gas rivals with a diesel (more torque/mpg) no one would care. Only us car guys would give half a shit, truck guys would buy big and macho and American and all the pussies who buy a truck because they don't need one wouldn't want the diesel stigma.

Well, it does win hands down on the ugly front.

That actually looks pretty awesome, aside from the fact that the bed is uselessly short and the overabundance of grays.

pretty kool.....

WOW, I would not have even thought that VW would even look at the pickup market, et alone build a truck.

It looks neat, but I jsut have to wonder....

I think it's pretty cool. It definitely looks better than alot of other pick ups IMO. +points to VW. I'm sure they will sell them(don't know about the US, but if it were to come to SA). We have so many people that simply want a big, good looking car, but won't actually ever use it for what it was intended.

VW has been selling pick-ups for years. There've been pick-up variants of the Polo and Rabbit, and the Taro was a rebadged Hilux. All of them have been on the utilitarian side of things, and I don't expect the production Robust to be any different. They are the "people's car" after all.

I know they made pickups a while back, but their brand image has changed to the point where I would have thought that they would stay away from pickups...

I think they've been TRYING to change their brand image. I don't think they've really been successful. They're still the German Toyota to me, and as long as Toyota can keep knocking out utilitarian products like the Hilux, I think the Robust shouldn't be a problem.

How about a Chrysler minivan? This can't possibly be worse for their image than a Chrysler minivan.

If I was running VW, I would make a Passat-based three-row crossover to compete with the Highlander, Pilot, Acadia, etc., and I would make a unibody pickup with a clean diesel, meant purely for personal use (i.e., home improvement projects, carrying an ATV, the sort of stuff people buy Tacomas and Ridgelines for).

How dare you compare the Tacoma and the Ridgeline in that way!

My wife cross-shopped the Tacoma, Ridgeline, and Frontier. She quickly nixed the Frontier because of its craptastic interior, but deliberated long and hard between the Tacoma and the Ridgeline.

All this "Ridgeline isn't a real truck" yammering is great if you care about the "principle" of body-on-frame construction and live rear axles. But if you don't care about "principle" and you just want a good family-use truck, they are absolutely comparable. Like I said, it was a close decision, and one that was ultimately determined by suspension feel (my wife liked the Tacoma's more traditional truck-like suspension feel to the Ridgeline's car-like ride) and the availability of a 6' bed in the Tacoma.

I personally would have taken the Ridgeline, but it's her truck.

your wife made a good choice