BMW Completely Rules Out Building A Pickup Truck CarBuzz News Features New Cars Used Cars Sell My Car Shopping Tools Car Reviews Car Finder Compare Cars Best Cars Car Dealerships Used Car Reviews Car Advice Home News BMW Completely Rules Out Building A Pickup Truck

BMW Completely Rules Out Building A Pickup Truck

Oct. 06, 2018 7:15 AM ET by Jared Rosenholtz Trucks / 12 Comments The fate of a German pickup now rests on VW and Audi. Even though BMW has never sold a production pickup truck, the German luxury brand has built not one, but two prototype M3 pickups based on the E30 and E90 generation cars. Many markets, mainly Australia, have been begging BMW to build a pickup truck to rival the new Mercedes X-Class. Unfortunately, BMW has been hesitant, even calling the X-Class "appalling" in an interview. At this year's 2018 Paris Motor Show, BMW told Motoring the bad news - a pickup truck isn't going to happen. BMW BMW development chief and board member Klaus Frohlich took responsibility for the decision saying, "I'm the bad guy." Even though BMW's Australian division has been begging the factory to build a pickup for years, Frohlich said: "I see no evidence that we can ever do a good proposition. If you look at the pickup market, it's very much utilities, so median price points are very, very low. Every business case we did so far, it was by far not relevant. For us, the market segment is too small, because we are at the higher price level for pickups. The premium side of that market is extremely small [and] there's only a few regions of the world – Australia is one of them." The development costs of a BMW truck would just be too high and the benefits too small. Mercedes saved costs by basing the X-Class on the Nissan Navara platform. BMW has already partnered with Toyota to build the Z4/Supra, so the idea of a Hilux-based BMW truck was also floated but Frohlich said: "We will never do something badge engineering." Sorry to anyone who was holding out for a production version of the M3 Ute, but if you want one, you'll have to build it yourself. BMW BMW

Join The Discussion

Show Comments (12)

Gallery

13 Photos Tags: #BMW News #Industry News #Scoop #Trucks

Related Cars

BMW X5 Jared Rosenholtz Editor-at-Large After graduating with an MBA, Jared pursued his love of cars by becoming an automotive journalist. An internship with CarBuzz grew into his current position as Editor At Large. Jared now spends most of his time evaluating new vehicles and chasing the latest news stories in the automotive industry. When he’s not attending Cars & Coffee events on the weekend, Jared loves to watch NFL football and cruise around with the top down in his German convertible. Contact Jared @Carsnbites @jar_rosenholtz LoginSign Up Home News Features Car Reviews Car Advice 2021 CarBuzz Awards New Cars Used Cars Future Cars Compare Cars Sell My Car Car Dealerships Buy Here Pay Here Used Car Reviews Popular Tags Cars # Video # TOP # Spy Shots # Reveal # Rumor # Auto Show # Supercar # Tuning # Car Culture # Industry News # Motorsport Acura Alfa Romeo Aston Martin Audi Bentley BMW Bollinger Bugatti Buick Cadillac Caterham Chevrolet Chrysler Dodge Ferrari Fiat Fisker Ford Genesis GMC Hennessey Honda Hyundai Infiniti Jaguar Jeep Karma Kia Koenigsegg Lamborghini Land Rover Lexus Lincoln Lordstown Lotus Lucid Motors Maserati Mazda McLaren Mercedes-Benz Mini Mitsubishi Nissan Pagani Polestar Porsche Ram Rimac Rivian Rolls-Royce Spyker Subaru Tesla Toyota Volkswagen Volvo By Make Acura Alfa Romeo Aston Martin Audi Bentley BMW Bollinger Bugatti Buick Cadillac Caterham Chevrolet Chrysler Dodge Ferrari Fiat Fisker Ford Genesis GMC Hennessey Honda Hyundai Infiniti Jaguar Jeep Karma Kia Koenigsegg Lamborghini Land Rover Lexus Lincoln Lordstown Lotus Lucid Motors Maserati Mazda McLaren Mercedes-Benz Mini Mitsubishi Nissan Pagani Polestar Porsche Ram Rimac Rivian Rolls-Royce Spyker Subaru Tesla Toyota Volkswagen Volvo By Car Type SUVs Crossovers Sedans Coupes Trucks Sports Cars Wagons Vans Hatchbacks Convertibles Small Cars Luxury Cars Electric Cars Hybrid Cars Future Cars By Price Up to $15K $15K - $25K $25K - $35K $35K - $45K $45K - $55K $55K - $75K $75K - $100K $100K - $200K $200K - $300K Above $300K Back To Top