Ingolstadt - Is Audi plotting a one-tonne bakkie that would reignite a premium segment where the Mercedes X-Class failed? The latest rumours suggest it might be.
According to Australian website Carsguide, citing Japanese sources such as Spyder7, Audi is thought to be working on a bakkie based on the Ford Ranger platform that also underpins the new Amarok.
But here’s where it gets interesting as the rumours also suggest that such a bakkie would be battery powered. This would not seem implausible given that both Ford and Volkswagen execs have hinted in the past that Ford’s updated T6 architecture that underpins the new Ranger and Amarok is compatible with electrification, although no concrete plans for electrified models have been announced as yet.
Earlier this year Audi CEO Markus Duesmann told journalists that the company was looking into the possibility of building a pick-up truck, Autocar reported, although he couldn’t promise that the company would develop one. In the same press conference he also hinted that Audi could “present something soon”, and our guess is that this may come in the form of a concept vehicle to gauge interest.
It would also be interesting to see where Audi decides to build the new bakkie. Depending on capacity of course, South Africa would certainly seem like a plausible choice given that Silverton is the only plant producing the new Amarok, although Thailand could also be in the running.
Of course, an Amarok-based Audi bakkie would need to succeed where the Mercedes X-Class failed. That’s not to say that there isn’t a market for a premium pick-up, but Audi would have to get the price-to-quality ratio correct. After all, the X-Class was criticised for being too similar to the Nissan Navara that it was based on, and for lacking the interior quality one would expect at higher price levels.
Given what we’ve seen with the Amarok so far, it would seem the German carmaker is up to the challenge.