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Volkswagen will present its new Tarok compact van for the South American market to everyone in New York. The concept therefore seems to be a smart little van with interesting design features for the bed and the cabin. The project is to build it in Brazil for VW's major customers in Brazil, Argentina and other South American countries, but the point of showing it in the US is to gauge the Americans' reactions to a recovery that is not absurdly huge. Personally, I think there is a demand for that, but I guess we'll see?
Oh, and even though the name seems to be Spock's half-brother who has followed the vulgar equivalent of Phish in recent years, he actually seems to be a reference to the Tarok people of Nigeria.
The truck is built on the same MQB platform that VW uses for everything from Golf to Atlas. So we are talking about a one-piece truck here, and not a chassis body. It is one of the largest vehicles still based on VW's MQB technology, but it remains relatively compact for the modern heavy-duty truck market, at least in the United States.
This is a double cab truck. Volkswagen designers have done some interesting things here. They have provided a retractable door at the rear of the cabin which, coupled with the lower seat tilt, actually makes a longer load bed.
It's a great idea that adds a lot of flexibility to the truck, but to be fair, VW did not suggest it. We have already seen, perhaps even the craziest, in the Toyota BB Open Deck, variant of the Scion xB on the Japanese market.
The truck can carry 2,271 pounds, which is pretty decent, especially considering that there are some versions of the Ford F-150 whose nominal value is significantly lower than that.
The truck design fits well with VW's current design language, with its large horizontal grille slats that continue to draw the headlights, although I do not expect the grille bars or badge illuminated reach the production. Otherwise, this concept seems very ready for production.
Mechanically, the truck will have 1.4 liters of VW, giving a decent 147 horsepower and full-time AWD. As the press release claims, it should also be decent off-road:
To demonstrate the off-road capability of the vehicle, the Tarok has an approach angle of 23.8 degrees, a starting angle of 26.4 degrees and a tilt angle of 22.1 degrees. The minimum ground clearance is 9.6 inches.
The Tarok Concept is equipped with a 1.4-liter, 147-horsepower, 147-horsepower, 147-horsepower, 1.4-liter TSI® direct injection engine, coupled with a 6-speed automatic transmission and a 4Motion permanent all-wheel drive.
I hope the New York truck will spark interest. I think there is an untapped demand in America for a reasonably priced, non-gigantic truck that can actually do decent work.
Volkswagen already had a player in this space a long time ago, and it was even built here in America. I think his time has come again. I guess we'll have to see what all those cranky New Yorkers think.
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