Due to bow in on November 6th.
German automotive heavyweight Volkswagen may have only just launched their T-Cross compact SUV, and inked deals with Mobileye and Ford, but they’re not stopping there. The next motor show on the calendar is the Sāo Paulo International Motorshow in Brazil, and Volkswagen’s taking the opportunity to preview an exciting new ute model that’ll probably land there sometime next year.
The company says that the “near-production concept” balances the style elements of “urban SUVs” with the “DNA of a cleverly-conceived pickup.” It’s an MQB-based vehicle, and it’ll slot underneath the Amarok ute we already quite like. Interestingly, Volkswagen highlighted that the compact-ute concept shared its MQB underpinnings “like the successful Tiguan,” which to us reads as a suggestion that the new model should be very similar to the SUV dimensions-wise.
While compact utes have gone the way of the dodo since the arrival (and widespread adoption) of models like the Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, and Volkswagen Amarok, the increase in popularity means that less-traditional ute buyers are beginning to emerge in the marketplace, and that’s exactly the buyer that this new ute aims to target. Being based on MQB and positioned below the Amarok means that it’ll unlikely be boastful about towing or load capacities anytime soon – We’ll bet our hats that when it arrives in production-spec, Volkswagen will be talking it up as a ‘car-like ute’ that offers passenger-car levels of refinement & on-road poise.
The concept car will be debuting in Brazil, and it’s likely that the production vehicle will debut there as well. However, Volkswagen is keen to point out that the new car has “potential… so great” that it could end up in regions outside South America as well. This tallies with the fact that with its MQB-based build, it could realistically be built and sold anywhere the Tiguan is. Could we see a new ute on our shores sometime in 2020 perhaps?
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