Autoblog

High oil prices have snuffed out Volkswagen's plans to build a European-market pickup truck. The vast and versatile loading area of a pickup, while a selling point in the US, is seen by VW as a sales liability on Euro soil. The vehicle's sales potential didn't stand up to analysis by the automaker, which cited oil prices as the culprit for shifting market desires. The Volkswagen Robust is still underway, with the program ramping up to churn 90,000 pickups out of VW's Pacheco, Argentina plant starting in 2009. It looks like Europe will still be graced with funky working vehicles that take the place of our pickups – vive la difference!

[Source: Forbes]

Rumors of a German (or at least German-branded) pickup truck have been bouncing around longer than a Lamborghini sport-ute or Ferrari sedan, and may seem just as out of place. But the automotive paparazzi have brought the speculation back to the forefront, spying a developmental test mule of what is tipped to be a Volkswagen truck undergoing apparent cold-weather testing.

The vehicle spied appears to be the mid-size quad-cab short-bed pickup rumored to wear the Robust nameplate. A variety of cab and bed configurations are likely to be part of the package when it goes into production in Argentina. An SUV derivative is also anticipated to be part of the package, slotting in the Volkswagen truck line-up between the Tiguan and Touareg in whichever markets VW winds up offering it.

[Source: Auto Express]

Despite what the truck in these photos looks like, it is not a Toyota Hilux rebadged by Volkswagen. No, according to The Car Connection, it's a Toyota Hilux body atop Volkswagen's upcoming Robust pickup. And before you VW fans get too excited, it is not intended for sale in the States. But truck shoppers in South America and Africa will be able to choose between a V6 or common rail diesel in both 2WD and 4WD versions.

[Source: The Car Connection via The German Car Blog]

A couple of spy shots have been circulating the web today, purportedly confirming that Volkswagen is indeed developing a pickup truck. The Toyota Hilux shaped mule is sporting registration plates from Brunswig, Germany, where most of VW's test vehicles originate.

Thankfully, Mr. Levine over at PickupTruck.com has parsed out all the possibilities for the new V-dub and has come away with two separate speculations. The first is that Volkswagen is going to sell a rebadged Hilux as its own, something that it's done in the past when it partnered with Toyota to produce the Hilux-based Taro from 1989 to 1994. The other possibility is that VW is using the Hilux body panels as camo, with an original platform underneath.

World Car Fans believes the latter and expects the truck to go on sale towards the end of 2009, initially in Europe and South American and powered by either a gasoline or diesel mill, with the possibility of VW introducing the pickup to buyers in the U.S. at a later date.

[Source: Pickuptruck.com]