Volkswagen plans to take a page from Carlos Ghosn’s playbook with a three-pronged product assault that includes a compact sport/utility vehicle, a body-on-frame pickup and a retractable-hardtop convertible, all due by the end of the decade.

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VW also plans a “robust” pickup truck due in 2008. Details are scarce, though the new pickup will likely take inspiration from VW’s Advanced Activity Concept, below, (aka the “Piech-up truck”) wheeled out at the Detroit show in 2000 as a precursor to the Touareg.

What is the point in manufacturers spending millions of dollars on expensive advertising campaigns to launch their new models when they can just take a pre production prototype out on public roads during development and get places like WCF to advertise it for free. It certainly seems to be the case with the Volkswagen Robust Pick-up truck, we have seen this prototype out time and time again and even on video and here comes the latest shots (including interior photo) of the model whilst testing brakes and cooling system in the Alps.

Now to break the bad news for all you European readers out there, this model will not be available on the European market, instead sales will be limited to North America, Argentina, Brazil and South Africa due to the high fuel prices and CO2 limitations. This means production will be done solely at the Volkswagen facility in Argentina as a posed to sharing the responsibility with the factory in Hannover, Germany as we originally thought.

The Robust is due to be released as a 2010 model, we should see its unveiling at one of the major American motor shows early in 2009.