Volkswagen plans to win America back with a pickup, report says
Volkswagen plans to win America back with a pickup, report says
据报道，大众汽车计划通过皮卡重返美国市场
A US-made pickup truck by 2030 is part of Volkswagen Group’s plan to revive its American business. According to a Reuters report, entering this competitive but high-margin market, as well as the large SUV segment, is the path forward, since both are areas the automaker currently ignores. The report is anonymously sourced, and VW declined to comment, so take the news with a pinch of salt. 到2030年推出一款美国制造的皮卡车，是大众汽车集团重振其美国业务计划的一部分。据路透社报道，进入这个竞争激烈但利润丰厚的市场，以及大型SUV细分市场，是大众未来的发展方向，因为这两个领域目前都是该车企的空白。由于该报道援引的是匿名消息源，且大众拒绝置评，因此这一消息仍需谨慎看待。
But it does make sense: Love it or hate it, the four-door pickup truck is the go-to for Americans who want one vehicle that can carry passengers and cargo that doesn’t need to be shielded from the elements. You might think a hatchback or a station wagon would be just as good or better, but that’s probably why you’re reading Ars Technica in the first place. 但这确实有其道理：无论你喜欢与否，四门皮卡车已成为美国人的首选，因为他们想要一辆既能载人又能装载无需遮风挡雨货物的多功能车。你可能会认为掀背车或旅行车同样好甚至更好，但这可能正是你阅读《Ars Technica》的原因。
Tariffs and an antediluvian approach to emissions controls might make the US market a haven for vehicles that are uncompetitive or unsellable elsewhere, and the pickup truck market in the US will account for almost $200 billion in sales in 2026, with projections to continue growing each year, so one can certainly see merit in the idea. The global car might be dead, but that just means you need to develop cars for each region’s taste. And Americans really like pickup trucks. 关税政策以及陈旧的排放控制方式，可能使美国市场成为那些在其他地方缺乏竞争力或无法销售的车辆的避风港。美国皮卡市场在2026年的销售额预计将达到近2000亿美元，且预计每年持续增长，因此这一想法确实有其价值。“全球车型”的概念或许已经过时，但这恰恰意味着你需要针对每个地区的喜好来开发汽车。而美国人确实非常喜欢皮卡。
And getting its American operations back on track is important for VW Group. Last year was bad for the company’s bottom line, and 2026 looks to be more of the same, as sales fall in China and North America. VW Group executives want to streamline the company by closing factories and laying off workers by 2030 to make it more competitive, and the plan is supported by the Porsche family, which owns just under 32 percent of the company. But the closures and layoffs are vehemently opposed by the state of Lower Saxony, which owns 20 percent of VW Group, as well as the unions, which hold half of the seats on VW Group’s supervisory board. 让美国业务重回正轨对大众集团至关重要。去年该公司的利润表现不佳，而随着中国和北美销量的下滑，2026年的前景似乎也不容乐观。大众集团高管希望通过在2030年前关闭工厂和裁员来精简公司，以提高竞争力。该计划得到了持有公司近32%股份的保时捷家族的支持。但关闭工厂和裁员的计划遭到了持有大众集团20%股份的下萨克森州，以及在监事会中占据半数席位的工会的强烈反对。
What kind of truck? Based on Reuters’ report, nothing is finalized, so there are no concrete details at this point. We have no idea what size pickup VW is considering, how much it might cost, or even whether it will be gas- or electric-powered. A few possibilities suggest themselves, though. 会是什么样的皮卡？根据路透社的报道，目前尚未有定论，因此还没有具体的细节。我们不知道大众正在考虑什么尺寸的皮卡，价格几何，甚至不知道它是燃油动力还是电力驱动。不过，有几种可能性值得探讨。
Firstly, VW could just start building the Amarok in the US. That’s a truck designed for South America, but Ford’s Ranger was designed in Australia for non-US markets, and it’s now on sale here, so that approach could work. That sure would be boring, though. For a more considered alternative, there’s Scout, the new VW Group brand for premium off-road-focused pickups and SUVs. In Michigan, Scout is designing vehicles to be built in South Carolina, using a body-on-frame platform with either battery electric or range-extended powertrains. Those are slated to arrive in 2028. 首先，大众可以直接在美国生产Amarok。这是一款为南美市场设计的皮卡，但福特Ranger最初也是为非美国市场在澳大利亚设计的，现在却在美国销售，所以这种方法是可行的。不过，这确实会很无聊。一个更深思熟虑的替代方案是Scout，这是大众集团旗下的新品牌，专注于高端越野皮卡和SUV。Scout正在密歇根州设计车辆，计划在南卡罗来纳州生产，采用非承载式车身平台，并提供纯电动或增程式动力系统。这些车型预计将于2028年上市。
If VW decides to enter the full-size segment and compete against Ford’s F-150 and the other heavy hitters, a body-on-frame platform would be necessary to get the performance that the market expects. Whether that can be done with profit margins high enough to justify the effort depends on the numbers, including whether a VW truck on the same platform would cannibalize too many Scout sales. 如果大众决定进入全尺寸皮卡市场，与福特F-150及其他重量级车型竞争，那么非承载式车身平台对于实现市场预期的性能至关重要。能否在保证足够利润率的前提下实现这一目标，取决于具体的数据，包括大众品牌的同平台皮卡是否会过度蚕食Scout的销量。
A more interesting alternative also involves platform sharing, but it shouldn’t steal any sales from Scout. In recent weeks, we’ve seen a ~$25,000 electric pickup from Slate Auto, and next year, the electric Ford Fathom is arriving at less than $30,000. What if VW decided that two is a coincidence but three is a trend and that small, cheap trucks are actually the way to electrify America? Developing its own low-cost electric truck from scratch by 2030 is a tall order. VW could build one using its MEB platform, as used by its mainstream brands; that’s what underpins the VW ID Buzz and ID.4. And the ID.4 recently ended production at VW’s factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, so it should have capacity for this putative pickup. 一个更有趣的替代方案同样涉及平台共享，但它不应抢走Scout的销量。最近几周，我们看到了Slate Auto推出的一款售价约2.5万美元的电动皮卡，明年福特也将推出售价低于3万美元的电动Fathom。如果大众认为“事不过三”，并意识到小型廉价皮卡才是美国汽车电动化的真正途径呢？到2030年从零开始开发自己的低成本电动皮卡是一项艰巨的任务。大众可以利用其主流品牌使用的MEB平台来制造，该平台也是大众ID Buzz和ID.4的基础。由于ID.4最近已在田纳西州查塔努加的大众工厂停产，该工厂应该有产能来生产这款假想的皮卡。
Ford licensed MEB; VW can license UEV. Basing it on MEB is one way to go, but what if VW decided to license a platform from another automaker? Like Ford. In Europe, Ford does it the other way, borrowing the MEB platform to build electric Ford Capris and Ford Explorers. European Ford fans are as aghast at the misappropriation of the Capri name as ‘Merican Mustang fans were over the Mach-E’s moniker, but as a traveler from these shores, when I see one drive past in Spain, Germany, or the UK, I’m mostly just sad we don’t get them this side of the Atlantic Ocean. So what if VW licensed Ford’s new Universal Electric Vehicle platform? For the last few years, a small team has been working independently of the rest of Ford to develop a lower-cost EV architecture from scratch. 福特获得了MEB平台的授权，大众也可以获得UEV的授权。基于MEB平台是一种选择，但如果大众决定从另一家汽车制造商那里获得平台授权呢？比如福特。在欧洲，福特采取了相反的做法，借用MEB平台来制造电动福特Capri和福特Explorer。欧洲的福特粉丝对Capri名字的“挪用”感到震惊，就像美国野马粉丝对Mach-E这个名字感到不满一样。但作为一名来自大洋彼岸的旅行者，当我在西班牙、德国或英国看到它们驶过时，我更多的是感到遗憾，因为我们在大西洋的这一侧买不到它们。那么，如果大众获得福特新的通用电动汽车（UEV）平台授权会怎样呢？在过去几年里，福特内部的一个小团队一直在独立开发一种全新的低成本电动汽车架构。