Laurens van den Acker, Renault’s senior vice president for corporate design, says that designing the upcoming Alaskan bakkie was “easy, to a certain degree”.
The Alaskan, which was unveiled earlier this year before making its European debut at the Paris Motor Show, will share its underpinnings with the Navara, thanks to Renault’s alliance with Nissan. The upcoming Mercedes-Benz bakkie, too, will be closely related to the Navara.
“The Alaskan was fun. The Alaskan was easy, to a certain degree, because … well, it’s a French pickup truck – let’s be honest, that’s kind of a contradiction,” Van den Acker, who joined the French automaker in 2009, told South African and Israeli journalists during a briefing in Paris.
“And I was lucky to have spent ten years in the US with Ford, so I know a little bit about trucks,” the Dutchman added, in reference to his time with the Blue Oval.
“There are not many people in Paris who know about pickup trucks, so nobody had an opinion and [they] just let us do our thing. And I think the truck came out quite all right. You judge for yourself.”
The Alaskan is expected to arrive in South Africa in 2018. Although it is not yet confirmed whether SA double-cab models will feature the multi-link rear suspension debuted by the Navara, it seems likely, with a Renault SA official telling us its inclusion will probably be dependent on price positioning.
