Wraps coming off new Volkswagen Amarok on 7 July

With anticipation building ahead of its eagerly awaited launch, a new report from Australia has alleged that the second generation Volkswagen Amarok will make its world debut on 7 July.

Citing apparent confirmation from Volkswagen Australia, carexpert.com.au also alleges that order books Down Under has started attracting signatures from buyers, seemingly unconcerned about the still-unknown price and final look.

Teased in pre-production form for the first time last month after being previewed in a sketch drawing in 2020, the Amarok, whose development largely occurred in Australia, has since been depicted a further three times, twice in January this year and twice last year with the latter pair being a glimpse of the interior.

Also sighted in September last year undergoing testing, the Amarok, as known by now, will ride on the updated T6.2 platform used by the Ford Ranger and Everest, with producing moving from the General Pacheco plant in Argentina to the Blue Oval’s Silverton facility outside Pretoria as part of the latter’s record R15.8-billion investment announced last year.

Set to be offered in four trim levels; Life, Style, PanAmericana and Adventura, the Amarok will be longer and higher than the current model, but 34 mm narrower in overall width and capable of ferrying up to 1 200 kg depending on the model.

While set to be offered once again as a double cab, certain markets will see the single cab return for the first time since being dropped ahead of the Amarok’s first facelift in 2017.

In addition, Volkswagen will continue to offer two four-wheel-drive systems; a conventional part-time with low range and a permanent all-wheel-drive.

Up front, the Amarok will jettison the current model’s 2.0-litre single and bi-turbodiesel four-cylinder engines, for Ford’s similarly sized and forced-assisted Panther mills that will be built at the Struandale Engine Plant in Port Elizabeth, now Gqeberha, after Dearborn’s secondary investment of R600-million in December last year.

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Power and torque figures are set to be similar as well with the single-turbo producing 110kW/350Nm and 125kW/405Nm and the bi-turbo 155kW/500Nm.

While the Ranger sports a six-speed manual gearbox on the former, pair the latter’s transmission, the General Motors co-developed ten-speed automatic, is tipped to be sole option for the Amarok.

At the range’s sharp-end, the 190kW/580Nm 3.0 TDI V6 departs in favour of Ford’s 3.0-litre V6 oil-burner that punches-out 184kW/600Nm, though unconfirmed speculation is that the bent-six, once sold under the Powerstroke moniker in the F-150, could potentially benefit from a power increase to justify its expected higher pricing.

Like with the four-cylinder units, the V6 will take leave of its eight-speed Tiptronic gearbox and feature the mentioned ten-speed automatic.

In select European markets, the Amarok will also have the option of a petrol engine, namely, the 2.3 EcoBoost that produces 200kW/420Nm in the current North American Ranger.

Despite a hybrid Ranger being rumoured, Volkswagen has already ruled the possibly of an electrified Amarok taking place out.

The same reportedly also applies to the previously under investigation Amarok R following Ford’s refusal to grant Volkswagen access to the blueprints for the Ranger Raptor.

While more details are anticipated over the coming months, what is known is that the Amarok will become in South Africa from the first quarter of next year and not the end of 2022 most likely as a way of not infringing on the Ranger’s debut planned to take place around the same time.