Amarok On

Once again, I offer a look at a Volkswagen model not for sale in the U.S.

The Volkswagen Amarok is a pickup truck available in single-cab (above) and double-cab (below) models, the very sort of vehicle most Americans do not associate with VW.

Which makes sense, considering Volkswagen's reputation for namby-pamby trucks in These States. Don't get me wrong, I love the old Transporters, even the old pickup trucks, like this one.

But, given the country-and-western-type machismo Americans crave in their light trucks, passenger or commercial, this ain't the kind of vehicle that attracts the Blake Shelton crowd. The few light trucks that Volkswagen has sold in America, especially the Microbus, fit the Arlo Guthrie type. And some of the light trucks VW has offered here were too wimpy even for hippies. I mean, come on, could you really attract a pickup truck fan down South or out West - or even in the urbane Northeast - with a truck like this?

Yes, the Rabbit pickup - called the Caddy elsewhere - was a cute little truck, but when was the last time pickup buyers in America wanted something cute? Bear in mind that Kenny Chesney never did a song called "She Thinks My Rabbit Pickup's Sexy." So what if it had a respectable 1,103-pound payload? This is not the sort of truck that you show up in at the hoedown or at your favorite roadside bar. Sure, trucks like this are popular in Australia, where they're called "utes," but America is not like Australia.

Although I am mostly indifferent to pickup trucks, I recognize - concede, even - that they're quite popular in the States and, to some extent, practical. If you're a carpenter or a landscaper who needs a vehicle to haul a lot of stuff, a pickup is a good bet. Which is why I believe VW should sell the Amarok in the States and build it in Tennessee, as I stated back in January 2014, and I understand that Volkswagen of America president Michael Horn is seriously considering it. It would be nice if he seriously considered the Polo and the Scirocco for American dealerships too, because I've often argued that cars are more important to VW in the U.S. than trucks. But I still recognize the need for VW to compete more in the U.S. light-truck market, and so, yes, I still think the Amarok should be sold here.

The Amarok would have to be made here as well because of the infamous tariff on foreign light trucks designed for commercial purposes, which President Johnson imposed by executive order in his first month in office. An imported passenger van could clearly be sold here without being subjected to the tariff (relax, I'll get to the Touran and the Sharan later), while an imported cargo van would certainly be subject to it. And a pickup? When Toyota and Datsun (now Nissan) began selling pickups here, the Japanese automakers discovered they could sell imported pickups and escape the highest possible tariffs by bringing over the cabs and chassis and installing the cargo beds in America. Today, the Japanese manufacture light trucks right here in the U.S. I'm sure Horn is already looking at manufacturing the Amarok in Chattanooga. (Just be sure to change the name! "Amarok?")

Meanwhile, the Golf-based Volkswagen Caddy is now a micro-van similar to Ford's extremely popular Transit Connect. This is the commercial version.

Currently made in Poland and Russia, the Caddy van is also available as a passenger vehicle.

Conceivably, the passenger version could be sent here, with a percentage of the units brought over to American converted into commercial vehicles, as Ford does with the Turkish-made Transit Connect; it would make for a really funky Transit Connect-competitor  in Volkswagen's U.S. lineup. How about it, VW? :-)