Handout/Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
Vokswagen Tarok concept pickup
VW currently offers pickups in a number of global markets, but it hasn’t played in the segment in the U.S. since dropping a truck based on its old Rabbit hatchback in 1984. But company officials have clearly been reading the tea leaves, especially as the American market for midsize trucks has staged a rapid turnaround since mid-decade.
Coming out of the Great Recession, all three of the Detroit-based automakers abandoned midsize trucks, as did Honda, many industry executives, including former Ford CEO Mark Fields, predicting the segment would all but dry up. But since General Motors made its return in 2014 with the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon models, sales have rebounded.
In 2016, Americans purchased 448,398 midsize pickup trucks, a figure that jumped to 524,231 last year, according to industry data. “And there is plenty of room to grow,” said Joe Hinrichs, president of automotive operations for Ford, which brought its own midsize model, the Ranger, back into production late in 2018.
Source : CNBC
