RENDERED: Check The New VW Robust Pick-Up Truck

Argentinean designer opinion

Jorge L. Fernandez / VW Robust

by Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
August 4, 2008 12:00 AM
Filed Under: Artist Renderings, Volkswagen

Volkswagen North American dealers may really have thought the new VW Robust was not good enough for their market, but if the Argentinean designer Jorge L. Fernandez is not wrong on his idea of what the new medium pick-up truck may look like, they may regret that opinion.

Expected to be presented at the end of 2009 as a 2010 model, the new vehicle will be produced solely in Pacheco, Argentina. Likely to bear a different name, it will be produced at a pace of 90,000 units every year. Besides the single and double cab versions, an SUV is also expected to be built, in order to confront the Toyota Hilux SW4.

Although it is planned for South and Latin America, the new pick-up truck will be exported to other continents, including some countries in Europe, although in limited numbers, possibly just to evaluate its market potential. If sales are good, as it happened with Renault Logan, for example, it may have the chance to reach more demanding markets.

Source: Area 75

email print digg facebook fark reddit delicious myspace

Comments

Xanavi23

August 4, 2008 1:31 AM

They should only offer this with a Turbo diesel V6...as the craze for trucks has died down. They could offer a Turbo Diesel V8 but given theres much less demand now coupled with the fact that Japanese and American companies have the market sewed up, im not sure it would sell.

Xanavi23

August 4, 2008 3:20 AM

**sewn up**

BabyMilo

August 4, 2008 9:53 AM

y does it need to b as big as a v6??? but i do agree with you on the diesel part

Xanavi23

August 4, 2008 3:45 PM

I mentioned a V6 because a TDI 4 does make good torque but just in case, offer a TDI 6 so that theres even more torque which truck buyers need of course.

MarkMalta

August 4, 2008 2:40 AM

ten points to anyone who can make sense of the first paragraph

Bremen_Koenigsegg

August 4, 2008 6:22 AM

It is grammatically correct.... WCF has delivered worse, it must be said.

carfan58

August 4, 2008 4:47 AM

no ones getting the points

v6s_stink

August 4, 2008 6:15 AM

I think this would do well in America with a fuel efficient diesel. The demand for trucks will be strong in the USA for many years. This country has people with a lot of stuff who are spread out all over the place. With cheap petroleum forever gone, the demand for thirsty trucks is not going to come back. The company that makes a pick-up that is useful and has markedly better economy will prosper.

Bremen_Koenigsegg

August 4, 2008 6:29 AM

How hard is it to guess at what a mid-sized pickup is going to look like? Let's be fair. Has anyone ever made a good looking truck? Bulbous, flared fascias with tall radiator grills, while appealing, are not handsome. So I pose the question, do people consider any pickup in the world genuinely attractive in a non-American Red State sort of way?

v6s_stink

August 4, 2008 8:25 AM

Check out the Studebaker Expresses and some of their other offerings. After that you may have to go to the late 40's Fords to see a good looking truck. In my opinion the Dodge Rams of the last couple of generations have been hideous. Toyota in their characteristic lack of originality chose these to copy. It just hasn't been that good of a looking segment for 50 plus years.

Andres2007

August 4, 2008 8:32 PM

I do think there are attractive pickups on the market. The latest GMC Sierra is very good-looking, for example.

What happens is that pickups are governed by a design language that's entirely different to that of the rest of the industry, and many people do not get that idea. A pretty pickup is NOT a good-looking pickup. A rugged pickup may be a good-looking pickup. For example, if you're looking for a bouncer for your bar, who would you rather hire, a man with the "pretty," femenine features of Leonardo di Caprio, or a man with the looks of the Undertaker? Now that's a good-looking man right there.

Many non-American companies seem not to understand that. When Americans are buying pickups, they don't want to buy Leonardo di Caprio faces. They want Undertaker looks, and most foreign pickups don't deliver in that sense. Toyota understood that. Toyota understood that, compared to a F-350, their old Tundra looked like a Gossip Girl actor. Then they gave the new Tundra more aggressive looks.

Now, if Volkswagen were to sell their pickup in North America, it'd be best for them not to expect huge sales numbers. Even if their car looked much more aggressive than this rendition—which I doubt it will—it is no secret to anyone that pickup buyers tend to prefer the national product.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a pickup guy. I don't even live on a red state. (Oh well, yes, I do, but I live on one of the bluest metro areas in the country.) I'm not even like those guys who hate foreign cars. I'm a fan of Mercedes sedans and BMW sports cars above all. That, however, doesn't mean I have any prejudice against the pickup market. It seems like nowadays it's "cool" to hate pickups, pickup drivers, pickup designs, and all that stuff.

Bremen_Koenigsegg

August 5, 2008 7:06 AM

lol Thanks for the post, Andres2007. It's true what you're saying about pickup styling, but would you consider any of these pickup designs timeless? That's the real measure of beauty, in my opinion. It's also true what you say about hating on the pickup driving community; however, as a recreational cyclist, I've been hating pickup truck drivers long before it became popular. ;-)

Andres2007

August 5, 2008 7:26 AM

Well that is true. There are few pickups that actually look good after 20 years. "Few," not "none" :p

Xanavi23

August 4, 2008 8:23 PM

I personally like the Nissan Titan and Toyota Tundra for slightly out of the box styling. The Silverado is also a nice looking truck; yea its a big block but thats how i like my GMC trucks. It looks like a truck, drives like a truck and PULLS like a truck.

Xanavi23

August 5, 2008 9:25 AM

But yea, the day of the Truck is nearing its end.

coopergt

August 5, 2008 11:19 PM

I still think VW could do well selling a diesel medium truck here in the USA. There are plenty of buyers who still want a truck and would be happy that they could have one that got good MPG. Remember most are only used as fashion statements!

Xanavi23

August 6, 2008 7:21 AM

Color me an stupid but i still find the last generation(that began around 96~) of F-150 still a very nice truck, some trims especially nice.

Cozy7

August 6, 2008 3:13 PM

All the VW have same faces, hard for U to differ if they get no body.

View Comment Rules