Volkswagen has confirmed that the world premiere of the new Amarok will take place in South Africa:
JOHANNESBURG – It’s already common knowledge that the second-generation Volkswagen Amarok will be based on the new Ford Ranger and built in the latter’s factory right here in South Africa. But now VWSA has confirmed that the new double cab’s global debut will also take place here.
“2022 will be a monumental year for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, which will see the launch of the best-selling new Caddy range as well as the new Amarok. The Amarok’s world premiere and global media launch will both take place in South Africa later this year,” VWSA confirmed in a statement.
The new Volkswagen Amarok is one of many new products that the German carmaker plans to launch in South Africa this year. These include the facelifted Polo (due in February), the updated T-Roc and Tiguan Allspace, all-new Polo sedan as well as the Golf R and Tiguan R performance models.
Volkswagen and Audi dominated the South African passenger car market in 2021 with a combined market share of 22%, but the company trails far behind its nearest competitor Toyota in the commercial vehicle market. For instance, in the final quarter of 2021 the Volkswagen Amarok was the country’s 11th best selling bakkie range, with a monthly average of just 142 units.
VWSA will surely be aiming to improve on these numbers with the new Amarok that’s due at the end of the year.
Not much is known about the new Volkswagen Amarok at this stage, although the company recently confirmed that it will offer the option of V6 TDI power. It seems inevitable however, the the new model will use Ford’s 3.0-litre V6 and 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel engines, which are built in Port Elizabeth.
While the oily bits are shared, which makes a lot of sense from a production efficiency point of view, thankfully it appears that the new Amarok will be more than just a rebadged Ranger. The design sketches that we’ve seen so far imply that it will at least boast a completely distinct front end as well as unique cabin trimmings. To that end, the VW’s commercial design head Albert Johann Kirzinger previously confirmed that designers had been sent to the Ford Ranger design and engineering studio to ensure that it had adequate Volkswagen DNA.
