Audi could join pickup truck bandwagon, to challenge Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux

Audi seems to be readying to join the bandwagon of automakers with pickup trucks. Audi CEO Markus Duesmann has indicated that the company is looking into the project. Actually, we will present – not too far from now – maybe something," Duesmann said, indicating that an Audi pickup truck could enter the market in near future. In that case, it will come challenging the rivals like Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux.

It seems as the pickup truck market is growing fast with several players introducing their respective products in this segment, Audi doesn't want to stay behind and aims to create a new niche. The luxury car brand aims to launch a premium pickup truck. We can expect a concept version of this pickup truck soon. What's more interesting is, we might even see an all-electric variant of the premium pickup truck, as Audi aims to fully electric soon.

However, Audi is unlikely to invest in a fresh platform for this pickup truck, as it is already spending a huge sum of money on electrification and advanced driver assistance systems. It would instead borrow the Volkswagen Amarok architecture for its own pickup truck. The Volkswagen Group in association with Ford is developing the underpinning for the new Amarok and Ranger. This same platform could underpin the Audi pickup as well.

The Audi pickup is expected to come with a host of luxurious materials and high-end technologies. It could share the same turbodiesel V6 engine with Volkswagen Amarok, while there would be other powertrain options as well.

The pickup truck is a highly popular segment in various global markets, especially in North America. In the recent past, with several entrants in the segment like Rivian, Tesla etc., the appeal and popularity of this segment have further increased.