Volkswagen has revealed their brand new Tarok pickup at the Sao Paulo International Motor Show.
Along with Ford revealing their Ranger Storm, VW has fired off their very own brand new pickup concept in Sao Paulo: the all-new Tarok Concept. Although VW has come right out and said that the production version will be virtually identical to the concept visually, so really we’re looking at the production model here.
The biggest selling point on the Tarok is its variable length payload bed. A panel in the rear of the cabin folds down along with the rear seat row to extend the bed all the way to the driver’s seat. This allows the Tarok to transport super long items that would normally need to be strapped to the roof. The Tarok’s tailgate can likewise be kept open for even longer payload items.
Max payload is 1 metric tonne or 2204 lbs.
Under the hood, the concept gets a 1.4-L 4-cylinder TSI engine that produces 148 hp on either 100% ethanol or a gasoline-ethanol blend. While it’s super cool to burn pure alcohol as fuel, the real production model will be fitted with a 2.0-L turbodiesel that produces the same horsepower. There’s just way more diesel gas stations in Brazil than ethanol stations.
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Power is delivered to all wheels all the time thanks to a 6-speed automatic and VW’s 4Motion AWD system. Underpinning the design is the same MQB platform that seems to form the basis for everything from the Audi TT sports car to the Volkswagen Atlas full-size SUV.
The inside is a delightfully modern cockpit with a fairly large digital instrument cluster, a big glass touchscreen in the middle, and a small shifter with what appears to be a drive selector knob just below it. The air conditioning controls are said to be digital, so we expect those to appear on the infotainment touchscreen somewhere.
According to Motor Authority, the Tarok will not be coming to North America, so we’re looking at a South America-only pickup truck for now at least. But if we’re really lucky, that same extendable bed technology might migrate into some of VW’s other pickup models. Which of course are also not sold in North America.