The world's fanciest ute? Audi working on new high-end one-tonne pick-up truck based on Ford Ranger and VW Amarok platform - reports

Audi could be about to follow Mercedes-Benz down the premium ute pathway, with fresh reports out of Japan claiming the German brand is working on a one-tonne ute that will wear the brand's famous four-ring badge.

That's the word from Japanese scoop site Spyder7, where reports have now surfaced that a Audi Q6-styled pick-up truck is under way.

Excitingly, the news suggests the new model will be built using the same platform that underpins the new Ford Ranger and its twin, the VW Amarok, meaning proper off-road credibility and load-lugging ability, all dressed in a shiny Audi suit.

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The reports suggest the new model will be an electric-only offering, with the new Ford Ranger and Amarok already set-up for an EV future.

Ford Motor Company vehicle program director for Icons and Ford Performance, Ali Jammoul, recently told CarsGuide that all avenues of electrification are being explored for the Ranger.

“The T6 platform is a really good platform in itself,” he said.

“And you can electrify the platform, and we have proven on the F-150 Lightning that you can take an internal combustion engine platform and electrify it.

“Whether that’s in the plan or not, I can’t tell you. But (T6.2) certainly is capable of electrifying – whether it’s a hybrid electric vehicle, plug-in hybrid EV or complete battery EV.”

If these reports prove accurate, the move would see Audi follow Mercedes-Benz into the premium ute space, following the ill-fated X-Class.

Billed as the world’s first premium pick-up, the X-Class was intended to forge new ground for the German giant in the worksite and lifestyle space.

The Nissan-based ute launched in Australia in April, 2018. But by May 2020, it was gone, having been plagued by lacklustre sales and plenty of strong feedback that sticking a star on the front of a Navara does not a Mercedes-Benz ute make.

How lacklustre were those sales? Put it this way. In 2019, Mercedes-Benz sold 15,300 X-Class utes worldwide, and just 2186 in Australia. Toyota, on the other hand, sold 47,759 examples of the HiLux in Australia alone.

It was an expensive mistake for Mercedes-Benz (a brand that doesn’t make many, to be fair). While the brand has never revealed the total sum, the marketing, promotion and media activity alone would have been a very big number, and that’s before you even talk engineering and production.

But if these latest reports prove accurate, then the X-Class's demise won't deter Audi, who will instead push into the all-electric space with a ute that should combine genuine toughness with a premium look and feel.

In fact, back in March Audi CEO Markus Duesmann was posed a question of whether an Audi pick-up was possible, to which he replied: “I can’t promise that we will do one, but we are looking into it. Actually, we will present – not too far from now – maybe something."