Volkswagen slipped a tweet through its news channel a few days ago showing some kind of vehicle driving over snow and ice. You see only a tire and a bit of chassis, but the vehicle is crunching through the winter weather, and carries the signature light bar across the front that is common to VW’s electric vehicles. The commercial ends with “Coming Soon” splashed across the screen.
The mysterious spot has pundits wondering if this presages a new SUV or AWD pickup truck from VW, perhaps even some version of the world-market Amarok. Now that Honda, Ford and Hyundai have all broken the ice, so to speak, with SUV-based small pickups, there may be a market opening for VW to offer their own version.
The Volkswagen Amarok has been in production since 2010, and up to now has been a traditional body-on-frame mid-size truck comparable to the Ford Ranger, but VW has stated in the past that they plan to build an all-electric truck by 2026. The Ranger chassis was supposed to be the basis for a new Amarok, potentially for the U.S. market, along with a second EV truck to complement the F-150 Lightning. But that deal between Ford and VW collapsed.
One distinct possibility is that Volkswagen Group owns the rights to the old International Scout brand, and plans to revive and electrify Scout as an independent company to build an all-electric truck and SUV for the U.S. with the first deliveries expected to arrive in 2026. Officials didn’t say if the new vehicles would be built at its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant, or if it would build a new facility somewhere else.
Another potential answer is an EV pickup based on the MEB platform that supports the ID.4. That SUV is already built in Chattanooga and a pickup built in Tennessee would not subject to the “Chicken Tax” import duty that has kept European companies out of the American truck market since 1964. VW has been looking for what they call a “Rugged SUV” and this could be it.
One thing remains certain: Volkswagen is all-in on electrics in Europe and in America. Whatever may be behind the distinctive headlights in this teaser, it’s certain to be either a new EV or PHEV.