Volkswagen Amarok News

Ford has made big changes with its popular Ranger ute for 2026 and it’s expected Volkswagen will soon make similar changes with the related Amarok.

Volkswagen has dropped plans to build an electric version of its Amarok ute.

Volkswagen has conceded defeat in the fight against Ford’s Ranger Raptor.Just weeks away from revealing the details of the second-generation Walkinshaw collaboration on the Amarok ute Volkswagen Australia commercial vehicles boss Nathan Johnson has played down the notion that it will ‘attack’ Ford’s performance ute hero.“We're just trying to enhance the Volkswagen Amarok appeal in terms of what we're doing,” Johnson told CarsGuide. “We're not trying to go and say that we're gonna attack Raptor. Raptor works in its own space and we'd be silly to kind of just say that we're coming after Raptor because Raptor is such a part of the Australian psyche, everyone wants one.“We've gotta play to our own tune here and work what we think will work for Amarok. And I think we've got a pretty good package that's coming.”Volkswagen Australia first partnered with Walkinshaw for the so-called ‘W Series’ Amaroks in the final years of the previous generation ute. While there was always a plan to continue, the two parties haven’t rushed the development of this new iteration, spending more than two years developing the new hero model for the Amarok line-up.“ It's taken a while from face value because we spoke about it quite early on,” Johnson said. “Because to be quite honest with you, the day that we launched Amarok, the first question I had in an interview as a product manager was ‘when is the Walkinshaw Amarok coming?’”While he ruled out a direct challenger to the Ranger Raptor, Johnson was adamant that the long development time will result in a vehicle that is unique in the market and will have its own appeal.“ I think it's a very different scenario ,” he said. “The previous Amarok we were coming to the end of production and it was very different in terms of how we worked on that car and how we pushed it.“This one was very different in terms of, we'd only started production. We're taking a very different approach to this car in terms of the previous one we had to obviously… compromise on a few things that we really wanted to do with our car. With the time period we had and we could have made some decisions to move down different routes, but it probably would've compromised the end product and so forth. So we made the decision not to.“Whereas this time around we've got time, we've got time on our hands and we've been working with Walkinshaw a long time on this to make sure that we can assess everything and make sure that we are working with the right partners, developing all the different bits, the components of the car, and then actually doing a really strong testing program.”Volkswagen reportedly finalised the design of the new Walkinshaw Amarok earlier this year, in April, and has been testing since then.

Volkswagen will launch an all-new version of the Amarok that is completely unrelated to any previous ute wearing the famous badge. Due in 2027, it is expected to finally replace the ageing, 2H-series Amarok original launched in 2010, still in production in Argentina for the South American market and facelifted in 2024. But the really big news is that this will be a variation of the recently-released LDV (or Maxus) Terron 9 that’s also sold in Australia as the MG U9, courtesy of Chinese automotive conglomerate SAIC.

Volkswagen Australia has detailed its model year 2025 (MY25) update for the Amarok dual-cab ute ahead of first arrivals during the second half of 2025.The Amarok line-up continues to open with the Core TDI405 at $55,490, before on-road costs, or $55,990 drive-away. The latter price is $2000 more than the MY24 version.The line-up still extends all the way to the Aventura TDI600 at $82,990, drive-away. This is $3000 more than the MY24 version.Almost every Amarok variant picked up a drive-away pricing increase for MY25 except the Aventura TSI452 which continues to be the only variant offered with the 2.3-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine.It now starts at $79,990, drive-away, which technically remains unchanged from MY24. A full pricing table is at the bottom of this story.Headlining the MY25 Amarok update is the introduction of the off-road-oriented 10 Deserts Edition TDI500 which was made to commemorate the company achieving a Guinness World Record last year.Only 300 examples of this limited-edition dual cab ute are being made and they’re priced from $68,490, before on-road costs, or $69,990, drive-away. This is $8000 more expensive than the Amarok Life TDI500 which it’s based on.The 10 Desert Edition TDI500 features a 40mm suspension lift, 17-inch satin black wheels wrapped in Continental ATR tyres, underbody protection, a black sports bar, soft tonneau cover, all-weather floor mats and ‘10 Deserts’ decals.Additionally, MY25 versions of the Amarok Style, Panamericana and Aventura trims get 230V power sockets with an Australian plug pattern, backed by an integrated 400W inverter. They also pick up a ‘Trailer Assist’ mode which makes hitching and reversing trailers easier.It’s worth noting the related Ford Ranger also recently picked up these features as part of an update.Another change for MY25 is the ‘Mid Blue Metallic’ exterior paint option has been replaced by the new ‘Reed Green Metallic’ finish.Lastly, Amarok Core, Life and Style variants now get the option of a cab chassis tray body style.Opting for this is an additional $4000 over the standard asking price of the dual cab pick-up variant.Included is a standardised alloy tray that weighs 132kg and measures 1650mm long by 1900mm wide. There’s also a steel tray that weighs 243kg and measures similarly to the alloy tray, but pricing for this hasn’t been disclosed.Both of these trays are available as dealer-fit accessories, meaning they are covered by the same five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty as the Amarok itself.It also means any existing current-generation Amarok can have a tray retrofitted as a dealer-fit accessory. 

Ryan Walkinshaw himself explains how one of the brand's most controversial HSV models was the springboard for local re-manufacturing.

Volkswagen's incoming new-generation T-Roc small SUV will feature the brand’s first hybrid system when it arrives this year, according to a report It might sound strange but until now when it comes to hybrid vehicles Volkswagen has only offered the plug-in kind (PHEV) or mild variants. Now in a first for the brand a series-parallel hybrid system similar to the one that Toyota uses will debut on the second gen T-Roc.  Series-parallel hybrid systems combine a petrol engine with an electric motor and battery to drive the vehicle’s wheels. The new T-Roc, which makes its debut this September, will use this kind of hybrid system according to British motoring outlet Autocar.According to Autocar, Volkswagen’s CEO Thomas Schafer said the brand needed hybrid vehicles due to a slowdown in battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales and an increase in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) beng bought as well. "We needed to do it anyway, because South America has a need for an HEV drivetrain - and the T-Roc is built in South America for South America, and also in China, “ Mr Schafer said."Interestingly enough, HEV has also become a big theme in the US specifically. It's a technology that everybody said was not necessary any more, but now with the BEV slowdown in the US, the balance is HEVs."And the T-Roc won't be the only Volkswagen to offer the hybrid system with sources telling Autocar there will also be hybrid versions of the Golf hatch and Tiguan mid-size SUV as well in the next two years.The hybrid T-Roc is expected to make its international debut at the Munich motor show in September.The slow down in EV uptake the past 12 months in Australia and other global markets shows the importance of transitional tech such as hybrid power.Australia is also seeing a surge of interest in hybrid vehicles. In 2024 sales of hybrid vehicles, excluding PHEVs was up by 89.8 per cent for SUVs and 39.9 per cent for hatches and sedans.Currently, the only hybrid is Volkswagen's Australian line-up is the Touareg R and it's a plug-in hybrid.CarsGuide has reached out to Volkswagen Australia for confirmation but was told by a spokesperson that nothing could said on the topic yet as the vehicle hasn’t been revealed. 

Details have been hinted at, and speculated about, and shadowy arty teasers have further whet the appetite of Amarok fans everywhere but still information about the upcoming Walkinshaw VW Amarok remains scant.

Why Australia is more important than ever to new car brands as US tariffs impact global car industry according to VW.

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 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.