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A Skoda Workhorse Looking like This Might Make You Like Work. And Horses

Skoda is preparing to launch the brand's first ever SUV (don't even mention the Yeti) in the form of the MQB-based Kodiaq but, you know what they say: the first cut is the deepest. So once that hurdle has been cleared, who's to say the Czech marque won't go one step further and release a pickup truck?
Skoda Vision T pickup 1 photo
Photo: Theophilus Chin
It sure looks like there's a trend going on with European manufacturers these days, and Skoda did produce pickups earlier on, even though they weren't based on four-by-four vehicles but hatchbacks. Mercedes-Benz is waking up to the idea, Renault's Dacia is doing the same, and there have even been talks inside PSA to make Peugeot and Citroen pickups based on the mighty Toyota Hilux. How's that for a competitive environment?

But those plans are still far from completion, almost just as distant as this one that nobody except our old patron, Theophilus Chin, even thought about. It's hard to tell if it would make any sense, especially since the Skoda brand only enjoys some awareness in Europe, a market that's traditionally been poor for pickups. Besides, pickups are already pretty stripped down of any glitz to reduce the costs, so it would be hard to position an offering from Skoda too far down from the Volkswagen Amarok regarding pricing.

Cannibalism has never been a priority for car makers, which means the unnamed Skoda pickup is a stillborn idea. Unless Skoda decided to use the MQB platform on which the Kodiaq is built to make a smaller pickup, similar to the four-door Dacia Duster one that's being tested right now.

That would definitely provide a sufficient price gap between the Skoda and the Amarok, not to mention placing it in a totally different segment. It would face some competition from the lower-priced Dacia, but the Skoda would be more of a lifestyle vehicle than an actual workhorse. Of course, that means it wouldn't look quite like this rendering, but it would still be a cool vehicle. You know, because all pickups are cool.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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