New Amarok ute to be Volkswagen's number one seller in Australia!

The Amarok is poised to solidify its place as Volkswagen’s top-selling model in Australia, with the new-gen model expected to outpace the other models in VW’s line-up.

Volkswagen’s new-generation Amarok ute starts to land in dealerships from April next year in Style, Aventura and PanAmericana grades, while the lower-grade Core and Life will arrive mid-year.

Pricing hasn’t been announced, but VW Australia executives have said to expect a price increase over the outgoing model given it’s an all-new model and it comes with a significant uptick in standard in-car and safety gear.

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Given the popularity of utes in Australia - 4x4 pick-ups are the second biggest market category by sales, after medium SUVs - it’s no surprise that the new Amarok could well sit at the top of VW’s best-seller list.

Volkswagen Group Australia product marketing manager James Thompson acknowledged that the Amarok could take top spot and highlighted the importance of the model to the brand.

“Yeah, it's certainly going to be up there. I mean, it's the most important car launch that we've had as a group for a long time,” he told journalists at the Amarok international launch in South Africa.

“So it's massively important, not only for Volkswagen Group Australia, it’s massively important for our dealers. Amarok drives huge profitability through the dealer network as well. So, it's a massively important project for everyone involved.”

Looking back at sales since the first-gen Amarok arrived in 2011, the ute has always trailed passenger car and SUV models in VW’s local line-up, specifically the Golf and Tiguan.

The Golf has traditionally been the German brand’s best seller in Australia, holding the title until last year when sales of the small hatch and wagon range fell off a cliff.

Given the popularity of utes in Australia - 4x4 pick-ups are the second biggest market category by sales.

However, it wasn’t lack of interest in the Golf that hampered its sales. The global parts shortages and supply chain issues that kicked off during the COVID-19 pandemic hit supply of Australian-market Golf models particularly hard and VW Australia has been unable to satisfy demand.

The Golf plummeted from just over 10,000 sales in 2020 to a low of 1962 last year. The changeover in model from Golf 7.5 to Golf 8 midway through last year also didn’t help. And the stop-sale just announced on Golf will mean sales will slow to a trickle in 2023. 

That allowed the Amarok to take the lead with 7659 units sold in 2021. So far this year, the outgoing Amarok is sitting on 3948 sales, about 1500 units behind the T-Cross light SUV that’s found 4897 homes to the end of November.

As CarsGuide has reported, the final shipment of outgoing Amaroks has already arrived in Australia, and stock is expected to be sold out by the time the new model lands in April.

CarsGuide understands VW Australia has ensured good supply of the new Amarok for its first year on sale, so it’s unlikely to be burdened by lengthy waiting lists.