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A BMW Truck? Automaker Says “Never!”

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BMW M3 E92 pickup truck never being made

The M3 E92–a BMW pickup truck. It’s a joke. Get it?

Steak and marshmallows. Cats and flamethrowers. Woody Allen and Pauly Shore.

Some combinations just aren’t meant to be.

That’s BMW’s perspective on pickup trucks. Despite teasing us with the idea previously, the automaker’s executives have confirmed that BMW has no plans of adding a pickup truck to its luxury vehicle line. The announcement comes after Mercedes-Benz disclosed its intent to produce a pickup truck in the next five years.

BMW Not Interested in Pickup Truck or Ute

You may remember the M3 E92 pickup that BMW actually physically assembled for April Fools Day–it was a hoot. There was certainly something odd-looking about it–and that was the joke. It was a hybridization of two elements that weren’t intended to be combined.

The reason we’ll never see a BMW pickup truck or ute, according to BMW Group’s senior VP for Asia, Pacific, and South America, is because it doesn’t fit into the brand’s image–“our genes and our culture,” as Hendrik von Kuenheim put it.

But.

There is a caveat. BMW admits the pickup truck segment does hold great potential for expansion, but the brand’s current luxury image of “the ultimate driving machine” is not ready to be switched to a manufacturer who mass-produces utilitarian vehicles. “You can do it but then you cannot be BMW. You have to be a different company, but this company is not ready to change.”

However, some point out that the automaker’s designs sometimes imitate minivans (like the 2 Series Gran Tourer) and SUVs, so pickup trucks aren’t as “out there” as BMW would like to admit.

“A BMW X5 M is still very much a BMW, but a pick-up by functionality because it is a utility vehicle that I suppose you would load sheep in Australia…is that what you would like to see from BMW? I don’t think so.”

News Source: Motoring.com