Sales of Volkswagen’s rival to the Ford Ranger will start towards the end of the year.
The new 2022 Volkswagen Amarok will make its debut around the middle of 2022, before going on sale before the end of the year with the brand saying it will be “launched on the global market in 2022,” although Australia has yet to confirm local timing. Ahead of its full reveal, Volkswagen has also teased out a series of new design sketches.
These latest teaser images focus on the styling of the new Amarok, giving us the first clear look at the ute based on the same platform as the new-generation Ford Ranger. The nose features a full-width front grille, which merges around the truck’s headlights. Beneath this, a burly looking silver trim piece extends from the bottom of the grille through the front bumper. The side profile looks similar to the current Amarok, with the addition of huge flared wheel arches housing large off-road spec wheels and tyres. At the back, a pair of LED ‘u-shaped’ tail lights are visible, along with a chunky tailgate bearing the ‘Amarok’ nameplate. All of it looks very much fantasised concepts, with the production-spec ute likely to be much more tamed down unless there is a Ranger Raptor-rivalling version.
Previously, Volkswagen has confirmed that the new Amarok will be 10cm longer and 4cm wider than its predecessor, which should improve interior space, particularly rear legroom. According to the brand, the loading bed of the next-gen Amarok is also more specious.
We know that the next-generation Amarok will share its underpinnings with the newly revealed Ford Ranger, thanks to a deal between Ford and Volkswagen that also sees Ford use the Volkswagen Caddy as the basis for the new Tourneo Connect.
While utes tend to look similar anyway because they all incorporate a flatbed, the Amarok does feature some of the same styling flourishes as the Ranger. The windowline of double-cab models looks the same, and the bonnet of each car looks almost identical. The sketches give us a reasonably clear look at the front of the new Amarok, which will get silver accents and LED daytime running lights. It’s likely that the swollen wheelarches will be toned down before the final production model is launched.
Some of the interior technology will be shared between the two vehicles, with both getting a large portrait touchscreen on top-spec versions. Volkswagen promises significantly more driver assistance systems than the outgoing Amarok, which has been produced since 2010.
Volkswagen’s 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine looks set to continue to be offered in the Amarok and it’s also going to be offered in the Ford Ranger for the first time. We know that the Ranger is also getting a 2.3-litre petrol engine (previously fitted to the Ford Mustang) and the carry-over 2.0-litre bi-turbo diesel engine with a 10-speed automatic transmission, but it’s not clear at this stage whether the Volkswagen will get these options too. The Ford Ranger Raptor looks set to use a twin-turbo V6 petrol for the first time, too.
The Amarok will be built at Ford’s Silverton factory in South Africa and exported to Australia, and versions will also be built at the Pacheco facility in Cordoba, Argentina. The Ford Ranger for Australia will meanwhile be built in Thailand as it was in the previous generation.
Ben Custard