VW

''Ranger-Amarok'' gets another new projection

As we have known for some time, Volkswagen is preparing a complete renovation of its Amarok pick-up. A model that in this new generation will have a completely new base coming from none other than the queen brand of pick-ups, Ford, and more specifically from its recently presented Ford Ranger.

To whet your appetite, the German brand showed some time ago and drop by drop a series of design sketches that anticipated a really robust looking pick-up, which has been improving over time, but which now shows itself with two new images that make clear this muscular image that, as in the Ranger, is very present in this new Amarok.

After appearing in an environment typical of a Safari, with a very adventurous look that includes a luggage compartment and special decoration - which could correspond to a special Wildtrack type version - now Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles finally reveals this new pick-up both in profile and from the rear, where its new tougher image is even clearer, maintaining marked wheel arches and a high suspension - which should not be so pronounced in the production model - accompanied by aggressive all-terrain tires from BFGoodrich. It has to be considered that we are still facing design sketches, so it is expected that some of its most pronounced features will be smoothed out in the definitive version.

What is clear is that this aggressive, square and robust look that drew attention at the time and which inherits traits from the German brand's latest SUV models such as the Touareg and Atlas, with headlights that merge with the grille, a hood of sharp lines and the aforementioned prominent wheel arches. Its rear is distinguished by larger lanterns and a lid with the new VW insignia accompanied by the AMAROK name stamped on the body in the purest style of an American pick-up.

Volkswagen specifically talks about a new Amarok that will be wider, longer at 5.35 meters and 10 cm taller. Among the sketches that we got to know in the last year, we could also see an image of its interior, which displays a large touchscreen in a vertical format like the one shown on the new Ranger, in the midst of a cabin design that appears to be quite modern despite from the usual hard and robust tendency of this type of 4x4 vehicles, thus maintaining physical controls. The increase in its dimensions will also bring extra interior space, especially for the second row, as well as offering a greater load capacity.

At the mechanical level, there are still not many details, although Volkswagen has already said that this new Amarok will keep a powerful V6 TDI engine that will offer “a lot of towing power and torque”. Other gasoline versions will be added to it depending on the market, which is not yet known if they will come from VW or Ford.

This marked bet on a much more robust design and part of its DNA has a clear explanation, and it is none other than the link that this new Amarok will have with the Ford Ranger, which according to some sources, could even give rise to an equivalent of the Ford Ranger Raptor under the name Amarok R.

This strange union comes after a collaborative alliance at the beginning of 2020 between Volkswagen and Ford, which agreed as one of their first strategies the joint development of commercial vehicles and medium-sized pick-ups, which already hinted that in the future there would be interesting links between the popular models of the Dearborn and Wolfsburg brands. A future that they have already advanced and will arrive in 2022.

In fact, Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess himself confirmed during the Group’s 2020 annual press conference that “the successor to Amarok would be one of the fruits of this collaboration with Ford”. A collaboration that, in addition to including this in the world of pick-ups, will also make Volkswagen and Ford work together in other areas such as autonomous driving, with their participation in the startup Argo AI and even in the world of electric vehicles with the use of the famous MEB platform for electric vehicles on Ford models.

Anyway, everything indicates that we will see this Volkswagen Amarok, without many surprises in terms of design, at the end of 2022, after the start of its production at Ford's plant in Silverton, South Africa, where the new Ranger will also be manufactured.

Autonews