Where's the prenup! The Ford Ranger-based 2023 VW Amarok is one of many unlikely hookups that even saw the birth of a VW-made Toyota HiLux!

For a vast conglomerate of brands that makes it one of the world's largest car companies, Volkswagen sure likes to cosy up to other manufacturers.

Right now, the Ford Motor Company is the beau du jour, with the coming VW Amarok and VW Transporter to be based on Ford's T6.2 Ranger and next-generation Transit Custom respectively on one hand, while VW supplies its Caddy as well as a slew of future electric car tech to Ford on the other.

But this isn't the first time the German automotive giant has jumped into bed with a sworn rival, for the past few decades are sprinkled with offspring of previous liaisons. And nor has VW stayed monogamous with Ford, shacking up with other brands as it sees fit.

So, let's expose the VWs conceived by other carmakers past, present and future.

VW Amarok (nee Ford Ranger) from 2023

Just in case you've been under a rock over the past three years, VW will launch a modified version of the T6.2 Ranger mid-sized truck next year that's been designed and engineered in Australia and built by Ford in South Africa.

It will use Ford engines, technologies and components, though there is a degree of differentiation promised for the VW version. Time will tell to exactly what extent that is, and whether the Amarok can reach – let alone eclipse ­– the very promising T6.2 Ranger.

Sadly, for the Wolfsburg marketeers, the new Raptor V6 is Blue Oval-only so out of bounds.

VW T7 Transporter (nee Ford Transit) from 2024

The Ford Transit and VW Transporter have been arch enemies since the former changed the entire landscape of mid-sized vans in 1965, instantly rendering the earlier, Beetle-based Type 2 (T1) obsolete. It took a while, but the T4 Transporter finally followed the Ford's form in 1991.

So, mirroring the Amarok being basically a Ranger, it's sad that the two brands responsible for the best vans have teamed up, reducing choice for consumers.

Not much is known about the next-gen Transit/Transporter, other than Ford of Europe is taking the development lead, both will offer electrification when they land from 2024 and production will be centred in Turkey.

Interestingly, this is a commercial vehicle (CV) only venture, because although there will be a T7 Transporter version of the next Transit, the people-mover version has switched to a variation of the current Golf's MQB architecture, meaning the new T7 Multivan is a Golf-in-a-box. Much like that 1950 Type 2 T1 Transporter was Type 1 (original Beetle) derived.

VW Taro (nee Toyota HiLux Mk5) from 1989-1997

(Image: Detectandpreserve - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3802035)

If you lived in Europe in the 1990s you could buy a VW-badged version of the fifth-generation Toyota HiLux.

Created to give Toyota a bigger foothold in Europe (at the time Nissan was comfortably outselling Toyota in some regions) while meeting VW's desire for a one-tonne truck after a decade of the Golf-based Caddy ute, the resulting VW Taro was not a success, despite being built in Germany alongside other VW Nutzfahrzeuge (CVs).

Maybe it had something to do with lazy differentiation engineering, since only the badges and grilles were different between the two brands.

From what we can ascertain, while the Single Cab 4x2 was made in Hannover, Dual Cab 4x4 versions were imported from Japan. Despite the HiLux's huge popularity by then, there weren't enough buyers to save the joint venture by the time the (vastly improved) next-generation HiLux launched in '97, relegating the Taro to obscurity.

Yes, Ford isn't VW's first one-tonne pick-up partner.

VW Routan (nee Chrysler Grand Voyager) from 2009-2014

Looking all the world like the love child between a period Kia Carnival and VW Tiguan, the VW Routan was based on the fifth-generation Chrysler minivan that was sold in Australia as the Chrysler Grand Voyager from 2008 to 2014.

The rationale behind the venture was for VW to snare a slice of the then-still massive North American minivan market, and was offered in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

While the Grand Voyager was designed by Ralph Gilles of Chrysler 300C fame to give it some attitude, the VW version softened the front-end styling significantly, to help give it a distinct identity. That didn't help, though, as most buyers with an eye on budgets simply chose the otherwise-identical but cheaper Chrysler or Dodge versions.

For some reason, the Routan was also denied the innovative rear-seating system that proved popular with consumers of the American-branded minivan. Sales were so bad that Routan production was halted two years before the model was official withdrawn in 2014.

VW Pointer, Apollo and Logus (nee Ford Escort) from 1989-1997

It's hard to believe VW would need to stick its name on any other small car when it produces one as iconic as the Golf.

But a set of extremely challenging economic conditions in Brazil and Argentina during the latter 1980s encouraged the creation of AutoLatina – a joint venture between it and Ford (split 51/49 per cent in VW's favour) to help pool development costs leading into the uncertain 1990s.

Three of the key models were the VW Pointer, Apollo and Logus, which were essentially extensively restyled hatchback, sedan and coupe versions of the European Ford Escort built in Brazil and Argentina during the time.

Covering two Escort generations (the 1981 Mk4 and 1990 Mk5), they were meant to increase efficiencies for both brands, but instead, only ended up reducing each company's market share where sold, leading to the dissolution of AutoLatina in 1996.

Fun fact: the Apollo name also found its way onto another car as well – in this case a midsized Holden right here in Australia – and, just like the VW version, ran between 1989 and 1997, was a clone of somebody else's vehicle (in this case the Toyota Camry II and III), was offered over two generations and sold poorly.

Meanwhile, for its part, there were also Ford-badged versions of the 1981 VW B2 Passat/Santana during this period, known as the Versailles (sedan), Royale (wagon) or Quantum (liftback). Because, you know, the Blue Oval's own Cortina/Taunus, Sierra/Sapphire, Telstar, Tempo and Mondeo weren't enough.

VW 1500 (nee Hillman Avenger) from 1981-1990

Still in South America, the almost-bankrupt Chrysler Corporation sold off its vast, non-North American operations during the late 1970s, with Mitsubishi buying the Australian outpost, Peugeot the one-time mighty Rootes Group of Britain and VW the remaining interest it had in Chrysler Argentina.

And with that, VW inherited the Buenos Aires-built Dodge 1500 – an ageing version of the 1970 Hillman Avenger, a midsized sedan designed to take on the Ford Cortina and Toyota Corona globally.

VW cobbled up some styling updates, threw on its own badge, and enjoyed some success with it in Argentina right through to 1990.