As a result of its collaboration with Ford, the upcoming next-gen Volkswagen Amarok will be based on the same platform as the new Ranger. What that means for performance applications could be interesting.
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles told Australia’s Carsguide that it would be interested in making an Amarok R based on a Ranger Raptor if Ford agrees to let it use the parts. If not, though, it could have other ideas for an enthusiast-enticing performance pickup.
Asked if it would collaborate with Walkinshaw Performance, an Australian engineering firm with which it has already collaborated for W Series “performance utes,” to produce a Raptor-rivaling Amarok, VW Commercial Vehicles’ director, Ryan Davies, didn’t rule it out.
Read Also: Ford Won’t Rule Out Making A V8-Powered Ranger Raptor
The new Ford Ranger
“There is opportunity for everything in the pick-up segment,” he said. “It’s definitely an option. It’s what we need to investigate now.”
Volkswagen has already confirmed that the Amarok will use a “powerful V6 TDI” as well as other power units “specific in each case to the market,” Lars Menge, head of product marketing at Volkswagen Commercial vehicles, has said.
Whether the Amarok will benefit from a VW engine or a Ford unit has yet to be determined, though. With the help of Walkinshaw Performance, though, the powertrain’s output could likely be uprated either way.
The 2023 Volkswagen Amarok is expected to make its global debut this summer, with order books opening late in 2022 and production taking place in South Africa.
Ford, meanwhile, revealed the next-generation Ranger (the one for non-North American markets) in November of 2021. The high-performance Raptor version is expected to make its debut next month and reports suggest that it will get the same twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 as the F-150 Raptor, which pumps out 450 hp (456 PS/335 kW) and 510 lb-ft (691 Nm) of torque.
