Audi Keeps Its Distance From the Pickup Truck Market

[Source: Drive]

If you were hoping to be behind the wheel of an Audi pickup truck anytime soon, you might want to visit your local Ford store instead. According to a recent report by Drive, Audi has scrapped any plans for a pickup truck. “I would say a pick-up is the last concept I could imagine to be an Audi,” Gernot Dollner, Audi global CEO, recently told Australian media including Drive.

So, that seems to be the end of that. It is both surprising and makes total sense. It is surprising on one hand because Audi is considering a rugged SUV and a pickup truck version of that could make sense. Also, the pickup truck market in America is massive. And there was the Audi Activesphere concept a couple of years ago which was a quasi-pickup truck.

However, the American pickup truck market is basically dominated by Ford, Ram and Chevrolet. Also, when Mercedes-Benz launched the X-Class pickup it got yanked after less than three years on sale. And that is without Mercedes-Benz even attempting to sell it in America. The market just doesn’t seem ready to accept a pickup from a German luxury automaker.

What prompted the pickup truck discussion in the first place was the Scout Terra pickup. Scout is owned by the Volkswagen Group. The Terra is expected to be launched using both hybrid and EV platforms here in the U.S.

If the Scout Terra is a sales hit in the U.S. will Dollner reconsider developing an Audi pickup? “You should never say no. But right now … it’s the last segment I could imagine,” said Dollner. Keep your chin up pickup truck fans. At one point it seemed inconceivable that Audi would come out with a supercar like the R8. So, they do have a history of surprises, and a pickup truck could be another one.