Volkswagen has teased a US pick-up for decades, but a reassessment of its global product and manufacturing strategies gives it urgency. By Stewart Burnett<\/p>\n
Volkswagen plans to overhaul its US strategy with new management and a revised product lineup, including a pick-up truck, a company source told Reuters. The overhaul, first reported on by Handelsblatt, would see Marco Schubert, formerly Head of Sales at Audi, relocate to the US to replace Kjell Gruner, who is leaving the company.<\/p>\n
Like many executives eyeing the US market, Volkswagen Brand Chief Thomas Sch\u00e4fer sees growth opportunities specifically in pick-ups and large SUVs. Both of these are high-margin segments with consistently strong US demand\u2014and strikingly, both of them segments in which Volkswagen currently does not offer a product at all. The goal is to bring the first pick-up to market before the end of the decade; this vehicle would be built domestically in the US rather than imported.<\/p>\n
The scale of the opportunity is considerable. Pick-ups alone accounted for nearly a fifth of all US vehicle sales last year, according to Cox Automotive, with average sticker prices approaching US$70,000 for the large trucks that dominate the category. Vehicle prices are, however, steadily increasing in the US\u2014to the point many consumers are being priced out of the new car market entirely. Average purchase prices surpassed US$50,000 for the first time late in 2025, and have generally hovered above that line ever since.<\/p>\n
This has led to several US-based automakers reversing their strategies in the direction of affordability. The most notable in this regard are Rivian, which began deliveries<\/a> of its \u2018mass market\u2019 R2 SUV three months ago and aims to launch a US$45,000 variant in late 2027; electric vehicle startup Slate, which is opting for<\/a> an ultra-stripped-back pick-up starting at US$24,950 that users can heavily customise; and Ford, which shed some light<\/a> on its US$28,350 electric pick-up, Fathom, for the first time last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n It remains to be seen which pricing strategy Volkswagen will adopt for its own pick-up, although given the segment\u2019s historically high margins\u2014and its own narrowing profits\u2014it is arguable that it will occupy the mid-to-premium range. These segments are highly lucrative, particularly in the upper pricing range: Ford, GM and Stellantis have leaned so heavily into them that all three have discontinued most of their traditional car lineups in favour of pick-ups and SUVs.<\/p>\n In terms of development, Volkswagen appears to be split between two different options: developing it in-house on its MQB Evo platform\u2014shared with the Atlas SUV twins\u2014or expanding its existing partnership with Ford, whose Ranger already shares a platform with Volkswagen\u2019s own Amarok pick-up built in South Africa. If Volkswagen chooses the latter route, production could to Ford\u2019s Michigan Assembly Plant, where the domestic Ranger is built. Either way, a decision is expected within weeks or months.<\/p>\n What this would mean for Volkswagen\u2019s own plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, remains unclear.\u00a0 Like many factories<\/a> in the Group\u2019s production network it has had a difficult year, losing its ID.4 production line earlier this year following the elimination of the US federal tax credit for EVs. Now, it builds only the Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport, leaving it well short of capacity. Whether Chattanooga can actually accommodate the still-unconfirmed pick-up platform may prove decisive in where production ultimately lands.<\/p>\n The stakes go beyond a single new model: Volkswagen holds just 4% of the US market, a figure it has repeatedly tried and failed to lift to 10% in the past. A source told Reuters the company\u2019s entire US model range is now under review, with some existing models potentially facing discontinuation. Bringing in Audi\u2019s former sales chief to run the region, rather than simply adding a pickup to the existing lineup, points to a broader structural rethink of the US business.<\/p>\n Separately, Handelsblatt reported in July that Volkswagen is considering bringing China-developed models to Europe for the first time, including potentially importing the ID.Era 9X, a range-extender SUV developed with SAIC, or building similar models domestically at underused European plants such as Zwickau. Lower Saxony\u2019s state premier Olaf Lies\u2014who also sits on Volkswagen\u2019s supervisory board\u2014has publicly backed the idea as a way to stabilise plant utilisation at struggling German sites. However, the automaker maintains that any such plans remain at an early stage.<\/p>\n That review sits inside a broader pattern already reshaping the industry, in which automakers increasingly treat regional manufacturing footprints as interchangeable assets to be reallocated based on cost and utilisation rather than fixed by geography. The same logic underpins Geely\u2019s move into Ford\u2019s idle Spanish plant; it also applies to BYD and Xpeng\u2019s efforts to acquire<\/a> brownfield European production sites. The latter is, notably, in talks<\/a> with Volkswagen itself, although it has rather pithily expressed concern about how out-of-date the German automaker\u2019s facilities are.\u00a0<\/p>\n