Australian-developed Raptor rival! 2026 Volkswagen Amarok Walkinshaw locked in as VW teases hardcore ute's design and deeper collaboration

Volkswagen and Walkinshaw have confirmed their continued collaboration on the second-gen Amarok will spawn a new variant in 2026.

Partially revealed in a shadowy teaser, the new Walkinshaw Amarok appears to share a similar styling overhaul to the original previous-generation collaboration, complete with a larger set of wheels.

It's expected to have a similar performance-oriented overhaul, particularly when it comes to suspension and off-road characteristics.

Speaking to Australian journalists, CEO and owner of the Walkinshaw Group, Ryan Walkinshaw, said “the design is now locked in,” adding the Australian performance engineering company would now move on to the testing phase which would last the remainder of 2025.

The next-gen “W Series” would then be scheduled for release during the course of 2026.

Few other details were revealed about the performance-oriented ute, other than the collaboration was plotting “next-level design, performance, and handing”.

However, with the Walkinshaw/Volkswagen team-up kicking off much earlier in the second-generation Amarok’s product cycle, Walkinshaw said the collaboration would be much deeper this time around, seemingly with the potential to result in more variations.

He said thanks to the longer lifespan of the program the brands could “invest more money” in the project.

“So, at the moment, we’ll be launching what you see [today] but if it makes sense in the market and Volkswagen is obviously open to it, you know, we’re always keen to develop other variants and other great products.”

Walkinshaw added that reception to the previous-generation road-focused W580, off-road W580X, and final edition W580 SE was positive, and that the scarcity of those variants was one of the main drawbacks of the original program.

“So there were a lot of learnings in that initial program for ourselves and for Volkswagen and we can make sure we do the best job of delivering what everyone wants this time around.”

Despite Walkinshaw Group now working on a wide variety of projects from the GMSV Chevrolet Silverado right-hand-drive conversion to the new Amarok, Mr Walkinshaw said adding more projects made the business bigger and more efficient.

“The new Amarok program actually helps us scale and makes us more efficient, more competitive in the market, so the more programs we add on the more efficient and prospective we become for our customers.

"So we’re always ambitious to be growing.”

The previous-generation Walkinshaw Amarok is now a sought-after limited edition, of which the most popular variant was the street-focused W580 which sold more than 2600 units during its limited production run.

The W580 included a wider wheel and tyre package with correspondingly wider fender flares, re-worked suspension and a tweaked exhaust system to add to an overall styling overhaul.

It may have disappointed some that the already-punchy 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel engine didn’t get further performance enhancements, although it’s possible further modifications could be on the table for the second-generation version, which in high-spec versions is powered by a Ford-sourced 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6.

From there, the previous-generation W580 was developed into the W580X which focused more on off-road capability, with a 40mm suspension lift complete with twin-tube dampers, bash plates, rock sliders, diff breathers, and an optional factory snorkel.

While VW was not yet willing to talk specifics on what changes will be made for the W series Amarok this time around, it would be unsurprising to see the collaboration spawn more than one variant.

Sought-after Walkinshaw versions of the second-generation Ford Ranger-based Amarok can’t come soon enough for the German-branded, Australian-designed, and South African-built ute, which as of the first quarter of 2025 is comparatively unloved in Australia’s pantheon of utes.

VW has moved 1459 units until the end of March, representing just 2.9 per cent share of the 4x4 ute segment, a 35.8 per cent drop year-on-year.