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First look: Volkswagen’s Robust ute emerges

German one-tonner: Robust will be powered by new turbo-diesel engines.

Volkswagen previews its forthcoming Robust dual-cab 4x4 ute: Europe's first pick-up

CX-9

25 September 2008

By MARTON PETTENDY

VOLKSWAGEN has revealed a concept that previews the first pick-up to be produced by a European car-maker: a 4x4 dual-cab turbo-diesel utility that could become one of the German brand’s biggest selling models in Australia.

Designed primarily for South America, where it will be built from late 2009, with vital input from Australia, which will be one of the first and most important markets to receive it, Volkswagen’s all-new one-tonne ute made its world public debut at the 62nd IAA Commercial Vehicles Show in Hanover today.

Though it is officially named the Robust Pick-Up (RPU) concept, Volkswagen says its fourth commercial vehicle model will set new class standards when it emerges from the company’s Pacheco plant in Argentina from the end of next year.

Volkswagen says it will be introduced initially only to markets in South America, Europe, South Africa and Australia, which as we’ve previously reported had significant input to its development and which will be one of its biggest markets.

Volkswagen Group Australia (VGA) managing director Jutta Dierks told GoAuto last month the RPU was developed principally for markets like Australia and that she hoped the all-new model would at least double VGA’s presence in the light commercial vehicle (LCV) market here.

“We are a very big market for utes,” she said. “And for the first time ever we are the most important market for this model. South America and Australia are the big markets for this ute.”

VGA is Australia’s leading European automotive importer in Australia. More than 4000 of the 27,400 vehicles it sold last year were commercial vehicles. The Caddy and Transporter, which recently became the first van to be awarded a four-star crash safety rating from ANCAP, contributed significantly to a 14.1 per cent increase in VW LCV sales last year.

However, it is unlikely the dual-cab Robust will match the entry-level pricing of similar models in Australia’s massive 4x4 utility segment - most of which are produced in Thailand, which has a free trade agreement with Australia.

Mrs Dierks said last month the Robust was at least two to three years away from Australian shores, but GoAuto understands it could now go on sale here by late 2010.

Presented in “search and rescue” (SAR) guise at Hanover - complete with GPS, a multifunction touch-screen infotainment unit, CB radios, a number of chassis and all-wheel drive functions, a compass, flashlights, binoculars, life jackets, rescue buoys, fire extinguishers, blankets, a tool kit and even a defibrillator, the Pickup is the first commercial vehicle to be designed under Volkswagen Group design chief, Walter de Silva.

Accordingly, Volkswagen says it features what’s referred to as ‘historical DNA’ – “design elements which link it to other group models and give it a distinctive yet familiar appearance”.

The four-door, four-seat Pickup concept measures 5.18 metres long and 1.9 metres wide - slightly shorter but wider than a Toyota HiLux. VW says its flat cargo bed is designed to accommodate a standard European pallet sideways, making it ideal for both business and recreational uses.

The Robust will be powered by a new common-rail turbo-diesel engine line-up that could mirror that of the Transporter, which is available with four, five and six-cylinder engines.

Riding on a separate ladder-chassis, the Robust is expected to spawn a family of vehicles - including cab-chassis and passenger wagon derivatives.

Volkswagen also used the IAA CVS to reveal the all-wheel drive-equipped Caddy 4Motion, a Caddy “Panamericana” touring concept, a “Style Edition” version of the Caddy Life and a fuel-sipping BlueMotion concept version of the Crafter van.

The company also this month revealed “Sportline” versions of the Caddy and Caddy Maxi, complete with the likes of 17-inch alloy wheels, foglights, front and rear spoilers.

While the Australian futures of those models are yet to be decided, VGA has announced it will test Australians reaction to BlueMotion versions of the Polo and Passat by displaying both models at the Sydney motor show on October 9.

VGA also says it is seriously investigating Australian sales of the Golf BlueMotion, which was revealed globally this month and joins the forthcoming Golf VI hatchback on sale in Europe by mid-2009.

The Polo was the first VW model to receive the BlueMotion moniker and its associated aerodynamic upgrades, in 2006, and it has since been applied to the Golf V, Golf Estate, Golf Plus, Jetta, Touran, Passat, Passat Estate and Sharan in Europe.

In Golf VI guise, the BlueMotion treatment includes a 78kW/250Nm 1.6-litre common-rail TDI turbo-diesel engine that returns EU combined average fuel consumption of just 3.8L/100km and 99g/km of CO2 emissions.

That betters Toyota's Prius hybrid (4.4L/100km) and matches the Polo BlueMotion, which employs a 59kW/195Nm 1.4-litre three-cylinder TDI engine. The Golf BlueMotion accelerates to 100km/h in a claimed 11.3 seconds.

Also a five-speed manual-only proposition with a diesel particulate filter (DPF), the Passat BlueMotion is powered by an 81kW/250Nm 2.0-litre TDI common-rail turbo-diesel engine that returns EU figures of 4.9L/100km and 128g/km.

In other local Volkswagen news, VGA last month introduced the Hanover Bus, a 14-seat luxury transporter based on the Crafter 50 platform.

Available now priced at $114,990, it features independent front suspension, a high roof, a 0.97 x 1.77-metre luggage compartment, three-point seatbelts for all occupants, ABS, twin front airbags, ESP traction/stability control, tinted windows, full interior trim, power windows/mirrors, a suspension driver’s seat, front and rear parking sensors, remote central locking and a multi-function steering wheel.

The Hanover Bus is powered by a 100kW/300Nm 2.5-litre TDI engine with third-generation common-rail injection and variable turbo geometry. It comes with the Crafter’s three-year/200,000km warranty.