Could baby utes be the next big thing?
We love our utes here in New Zealand but they love them even more in the South American market.
And it’s not just the bigger onetonne pickups that we have here – there is also a thriving market for small car-based half-tonners.
You know, actual ‘‘utes’’, but small.
A number of manufacturers have been serving this segment with small utes based on old platforms from cars (some that aren’t even in production any more), but a number of the bigger ones are starting to pay more attention to this popular segment and its possibilities in the wider global market with new models based on current, modern platforms.
For example, United States magazine Automobile recently reported that Ford is strongly considering a new compact unibody pickup based on the Focus platform for the South American market that it would also sell in the North American market.
And now Volkswagen has jumped back into the segment with the release of a rendering of a new small ute concept in Brazil.
While the company already builds a small car-based ute (the Saveiro, based on the tiny and ancient VW Golf) for some markets, Volkswagen says the new concept is positioned below the Amarok and is based on its MQB platform, just like the Tiguan SUV.
The company has also said that the world premiere of the all-wheel drive concept vehicle ‘‘starts the countdown to the launch of the series version due to launch on the Brazilian market in the foreseeable future with just a few minor tweaks’’.
One of the utes’ interesting innovations is its ‘‘multivariable loading area’’ that, in just a couple of simple steps, can be significantly extended thanks to the folding rear panel of the double cab.
Little else has been revealed about the production version, but Volkswagen did also say that it considered the new utes’ potential to be ‘‘so great that the concept could conceivably be suitable for other regions’’.
Other regions that buy a lot of utes, presumably, giving us hope that the rise of the small, car-based half-tonne (although many of them can carry more than that) ute may be something that the New Zealand market could be part of.