Images released of Volkswagen Amarok’s forebear that never was

Volkswagen’s partnership with Ford, which has so far resulted in the Tourneo Connect based on the Caddy and the new Amarok on the Ranger, has not been without its criticism despite not being new for either brand.

Most famously, both entered into a partnership in 1991 under the still going, but now wholly Wolfsburg owned AutoEuropa banner in Portugal that lasted until 2006 and gave rise to two generations of Galaxy based on the Sharan and its Seat’s offshoot, the Alhambra.

Before this though, a joint venture already existed in South America under the Autolatina designation that saw the Ford Orion being sold at the Volkswagen Largus, the Verona – a developed of the fourth and fifth generation Escort – as the Volkswagen Apollo and the fourth generation Escort itself as the Volkswagen Pointer.

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Volkswagen’s contribution came in the shape of the Ford Royale based on the Quantum – Brazil’s version of the second generation Passat – and Versailles that used the underpinnings of the Santana, a nameplate still in use today having originally debuted as the moniker for the third generation Passat in China.

Despite the partnership dissolving in 1995 after eight years, it ultimately brought about a number of models that never made it to production, with the latest being a still-born bakkie predating not only the Amarok, but also the Taro that went on sale in Europe in 1989 as nothing but a Volkswagen badged version of the Toyota Hilux.

In a pair of images posted on Instagram, former Volkswagen do Brasil Head of Design, Luiz Veiga, revealed that the automaker had been working on a bakkie as early as the 1980s using the Santana as a base, but with the front facia from the facelift model that premiered in 1991.

Showcased as a single cab, of which a single rolling prototype made it to reality, according to motor1.com Brazil, the Santana Pick-Up sported Volkswagen period wheel covers, a roll bar with twin spot lights, metal side steps and a metal rear step in place of a bumper.

According to Veiga, whose career at Volkswagen do Brasil ended in 2016 and included some of Brazil’s model iconic models such as the Gol, Fox and Voyage, a lack of funds justifying the project versus the expected return eventually caused its cancellation.

As evident by the design of the Santana Pick-Up’s taillights and loadbed, Toyota had by this stage signed an agreement with Volkswagen, which resulted in the Taro that lasted until early 1997 powered by a range of Toyota provided petrol and diesel engines.

Another likely reason for the Santana Pick-Up’s scrapping is the Autolatina partnership that came into being two years before the reveal of the Taro.

It is therefore speculated that while an early stage partnership with Toyota was probably being drawn-up, the linking-up with Ford ultimately ended the project as the likelihood of a badge-engineered model with Hilux touches would have been frowned upon by the Blue Oval’s management in Dearborn.

The undertaking of the new Amarok using the Ranger’s foundations could thus be seen as the eventual inking of a link-up almost four decades in the making.