The idea was simple – “build a modern Volkswagen pickup truck” – but the execution was anything but. The Volkswagen Atlas Tanoak concept vehicle unveiled at the New York International Auto Show reflects months of work by dozens of VW designers and engineers to build something that has not existed before; a real mid-size pickup, designed for American tastes, from the highly flexible platform architectures of the Volkswagen Group. The result was the hit of the show, precisely because it mixed style with utility in a way that many real-life pickups struggle to blend. “Pickups are distinctly American,” said Klaus Bischoff, the head of VW Design. “If you go into this territory, you need to come up with something cool, and something that works. You can’t do something unserious. “This” he said, pointing to the Tanoak, “is engineered to the bone.” Outside of using the MQB platform, those “bones” that lie underneath VW models from the Golf to the Atlas, Bischoff says t...