Yahoo Autos BMW rules out a pickup, but it's open to launching a more rugged SUV
BMW has orbited around the pickup segment several times over the past few years without landing in it. In 2016, right after Mercedes-Benz badge-engineered a Nissan Navara into the short-lived X-Class, one of the Munich-based company's executives confirmed his team was "watching the [pickup] space closely." In 2019, an X7-based pickup concept made its debut to haul motorcycles. The final call is no, however.
"I think a pickup truck is beyond the brand," explained Bernd Körber, the senior vice president of BMW brand and product management, in an interview with enthusiast publication BMW Blog. "In principle, I would say for a brand like BMW to differentiate, to make cars that are dream cars that really bring out the essence of BMW, we need niche models," he added. In his opinion, a truck simply wouldn't fit the bill.
Mercedes-Benz came to a similar conclusion: It axed the X-Class (which wasn't imported to the United States) three years after unveiling the model. Over at Audi, we haven't seen a production-bound truck, but the Activesphere concept shown in 2023 featured a truck-like cargo box.
