The Volkswagen Amarok is a pickup truck produced by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles since 2010. It is a body-on-frame truck with double-wishbone suspension at the front and leaf springs at the rear. The Amarok range consists of single cab and double cab, combined with either rear-wheel drive or 4motion four-wheel-drive, and is powered by turbocharged petrol or turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel engines.
Amarok competes in some global markets with comparable mid-size pickup trucks, such as the Toyota Hilux, Nissan Navara, Mitsubishi L200, Ford Ranger, Isuzu D-Max and Chevrolet/Holden Colorado/S-10. The second-generation Amarok is based on the Ford Ranger.
Between 2010 and 2022, 830,000 units of the first-generation Amarok has been sold.
The name Amarok, referencing a wolf deity in Inuit mythology, was chosen by brand marketing consultants Interbrand; Interbrand also claims the name is associated with the phrase "he loves stones" in Romanic languages in an attempt to allude to the all-terrain performance of the vehicle.
First generation (2010) The Amarok, the first pickup from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, was presented to the general public in General Pacheco, Argentina, on 7 January 2010. The project dates back from 2005, when Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles announced their intent to build a robust pickup and off-road family of vehicles. It was teased as the Robust Pick-Up concept in September 2008, wrapped in a search and rescue (SAR) vehicle color scheme; the design was said to be 95 percent resembling the production version.
Following the launch in Argentina, the Amarok was a key support vehicle in the 2010 Dakar Rally, with 45 having been used.
The Amarok is currently being produced in the Volkswagen Group plant in General Pacheco, Argentina; for South American, Mexican, Oceanian, South African, Russian, and European markets. It is expected to produce 90,000 Amaroks annually once production is at full capacity. As of 2022, 70% of the Argentine Amaroks are exported.
The Hanover site was originally dropped from possible sites to produce the Amarok due to the global financial crisis and increasing economic costs in Europe in 2009. In September 2010, it was decided that 40,000 Amarok pickups will also be produced annually in Hanover, Germany for the European and small volume markets from mid-2012.
The 100,000th Amarok was produced on 8 October 2011.
Powertrain
The Amarok is powered by a range of turbocharged direct injection (TDI) common rail diesel engines, and fuel stratified injection (FSI) petrol engine.
As of 2010, the engine range consists of two 2.0L turbocharged direct injection (TDI) common rail diesel engines which is taken from the Volkswagen Transporter (T5), it has been tuned for more torque but less power; the entry-level version produces which develops a maximum torque of from 2,000 rpm. The top-of-the-line bi-turbo version produces which develops a maximum torque of from 1500 rpm −2500 rpm. Fuel consumption in a combined cycle format is as low as on the rear-wheel-drive variant to on the 4Motion version, which theoretically gives the Amarok a range before filling up for fuel.
As of the 2012 Model Year, Volkswagen has introduced two more engine configurations, 2.0L TDI 90 kW motor upgraded to 103 kW of power and a 2.0L Bi-TDI which has an optional 8-speed ZF engineered automatic transmission.
On 22 September 2014, Volkswagen launched a limited edition Amarok Dark Label model. The Dark Label model is fitted with the 2.0-litre BiTDI engine, generating up to of torque and offering a maximum towing capacity of up to .
For the 2017 model year, Volkswagen announced a facelifted Amarok range. The key feature of the facelift is a new engine that replaces the earlier models' 2.0L TDI engine. In place of the previous four-cylinder engine, the Amarok is now fitted with a version of VW's 3.0L TDI V6. It will be available in three states of tune (, , and ), with the most powerful version boasting a torque output of and a 0– time of 8 seconds. In the UK the lowest power output was dropped in favour of the 201 and 254 BHP models, the latter has an overboost to 268 and can hit 62 from a standstill in 7.4 seconds.
The new V6 TDI offers up to 23% more power and 28% more torque while delivering lower emissions and decreased fuel consumption compared to the previous 2.0 BiTDI engine that was previously the most powerful option. Deliveries of the new Amarok V6 TDI were scheduled to commence in the 3rd quarter of 2016. In late 2018 a more powerful version of the 3.0 V6 TDI was produced (190/200 kW & 580 Nm) to compete with the new Mercedes Benz X Class V6 CDI.