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As part of its commitment to grow its business in South America, Volkswagen is set to upgrade the first-generation Amarok ute with a design refresh, improvements to key media tech and expanded safety systems.
In 2023, the German giant confirmed its decision to invest one billion Euros in South America over the next three years, looking to grow by no less than 40 percent in the region’s largest market, Brazil.
Volkswagen says a “new product offensive” is key to that ambition but while other global export markets (including Australia) are already offering the all-new Amarok II, the improved first-generation Amarok is scheduled to go on sale in South America from the middle of this year.
Key to the decision to stick with the original model is the fact that Amarok II (jointly developed with the current Ford Ranger) is produced in Ford’s Silverton plant in South Africa, while the improved first-generation Amarok will be built at VW’s Pacheco plant just outside Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Pacheco accounted for the bulk of Australia’s first-generation Amarok production, excluding Highline and Ultimate variants which came from Germany.
According to Motor1, a group of Argentinian dealers recently received a confidential preview of the ‘Amarok 1.2’, which will be offered only in Latin America (including Mexico).
Headline changes are a digital dash and an improved multimedia system as well as better safety with additional airbags and the brand’s ‘Advanced Driver Assistance Systems’ (ADAS), improvements many had been calling for in the latter part of the first-gen Amarok’s more than 10 years on sale in Australia. Diesel engines are unchanged with a choice of single- and twin-turbo four-cylinders, and a 3.0-litre single-turbo V6.
At a year-end ‘Driving Experience 2023’ event held in San Martín de los Andes in Northwest Patagonia, Volkswagen Argentina Product and Sales Planning Manager Francesco Pecchia told Motor1 “a couple of years ago, Volkswagen signed an international alliance with Ford to share developments in different products. At the time, we considered that the alliance was not the best alternative for the Latin American market".
“For that reason, we broke away from that agreement, followed our own path and continued with the evolution of this first generation of the Amarok for the regional market," Pecchia said.
“We believe that it is a product that, with this update of the local model and obviously working on its update, will remain very attractive and with the latest developments that the client demands.
“Among the weaknesses of the (Amarok II/Ranger) project was seeing how our Pacheco plant would be affected, which today produces two models - Amarok and Taos - and would lose one if Ford manufactured the new Amarok for South America.
“This would have greatly complicated the operation of our plant, with idle capacities and greatly complicating the viability of the business. It didn't seem like a good alternative to us.”
