Audi is looking at the possibility of building a pick-up truck
German firm investigating shock move into the truck market.
Audi has revealed that it is considering a shock move into the pick-up truck market.
The German firm currently makes a wide range of vehicles, from hatchbacks and saloons to larger SUVs, but it has not dabbled in the truck market.
However, Autocar magazine asked Audi CEO Markus Duesmann if the brand was considering making the move, and was told: “I can’t promise that we will do one, but we are looking into it.”
He was speaking alongside the bosses of Bentley, Lamborghini and Ducati, with Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark jokingly responding: “I would not love to have one in the Bentley portfolio.”
Although Duesmann would not comment further, the German added: “Actually, we will present – not too far from now – maybe something”, meaning that a truck concept could be in the works.
As a premium brand, an Audi pick-up truck would be an interesting proposition. Mercedes-Benz recently sold the X-Class, which was based on the Nissan Navara and pitched as a premium pick-up.
However, it was a sales flop and was on sale for less than three years.
Introducing an Audi truck should be a fairly simple process, because the firm is part of the Volkswagen Group. The Volkswagen Amarok is one of the world’s best-selling trucks, and the new generation model has been built in collaboration with Ford and its Ranger truck.
Should Audi decide to enter this market, it’s likely that it would use the Amarok-Ranger platform as a base. However, the firm would probably overhaul the interior to provide a more upmarket, tech-heavy alternative to those models. It would also be pitched as a lifestyle vehicle, rather than for commercial use.
Another alternative for Audi is to use Volkswagen’s electric vehicle platform, called MEB. This underpins a huge variety of EVs across the VW Group, and there’s a good chance that it could be adapted for use in an electric pick-up truck.
