Volkswagen Double Cabin: VW’s First Pickup Truck

When it was launched, the Volkswagen Type 2 was extremely successful. It was a peoples’ car, but for those who had to carry luggage and goods, rather than people. While it wasn’t the fastest van in the world, its affordability and practicality made it one of the bestselling commerce vehicles across Europe in the mid-1950s. However, there was an issue. There was a certain percentage of the market who wanted a pickup truck, so the pressure was on Volkswagen to deliver.

Many people wrongly believe that to make a pickup truck, you simply remove the roof from the rear half of the vehicle. The process is a lot more complicated than that, requiring years of research and development before the model can be delivered to the public. However, Volkswagen did not have that much time, as they knew that sooner or later someone would expand into the pickup truck market. As such, they built on the hugely dynamic Type 2 platform with the standard 4-cylinder engine used in all the Volkswagen models at that time. On top they placed a specially constructed pickup truck body. They launched both a single cabin and double cabin models, to resounding success.

Although it sold particularly well, the double cabin is a lot rarer today than the single cabin, as the double cabin was less practical than the single cabin. This has made the double cabin a rarer find for vintage Volkswagen collectors. Both models were produced until the end of the original Type 2’s production run.

Once the Type 2’s production run ended, VW produced the caddy pickup and the Volkswagen Taro, neither of whom sold as much as the Type 2 pickup truck. That was until in 2010, when Volkswagen launched the Amarok, which took the market by storm and is one of the best pickup trucks currently.

As with so many other segments of the car market, Volkswagen once again produced a pioneering car that would blaze the trail into the present. A vehicle borne out of necessity, the Type 2 pickup truck had become a cult classic due to its classic Type 2 look and the attractive pickup truck body shape.