It's about time or is it? Is the timing right or is this a good idea whose time might never come in North America? That ram in this ad seems to be wondering the same thing. Do we or don't we? Lot's of reasons to and lots not to.
So what am I talking about?
Look closely at the bottom left of this ad. Ok, let's look at the bigger picture.......
The VW Amarok. The what? Well, apparently it means "steppe wolf" in the language of some northern Europeans. Make sense? Whatever. This is the Amarok, a rough and tough mid-sized VW pick-up truck sold in Europe, Russia, the Middle East and South America. Also comes in this two door model........
So the question is, why doesn't VW bring it to the huge pick-up countries of Canada and the USA? Don't we gobble up every new pick-up truck or would it be just another turkey (note the play on words)? Fact is our truck buyers are very specific, are extremely loyal and they like a BIG truck. Three factors that make this an extremely tough market to break into.
Nissan has tried it and they move very few of their Titans. When was the last time you saw one? Toyota, after a couple of false starts, came into the market with guns blazing and enough different Tundra models to compete head to head with the Ford, Chev/GMC and Ram versions. How have they done? Much better than Nissan, but last year they sold around 110k Tundra's. Not bad, but Ford sold this same amount in one particular month last year. Kinda puts it into perspective, doesn't it?
Even still, apparently VW has been trying to put together a business case for this mid-sized truck. Nothing planned for 2014, but when the relatively new Amorek get updated, will there be one headed to North America?
By the way, for those of you with longer memories, you know that this wouldn't be VW's first try at a pick-up. Surely you must remember this "winner"........
Yep, the old Rabbit/Golf version of way back when. I still see the odd one rusting its way around Toronto.
Will VW ship the Amorek to us? Another question to ponder over the next year or so. Have fun!
Until next time.......
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