Five trim levels confirmed for new VW Amarok

VOLKSWAGEN Australia has announced that its second-generation Amarok utility range will arrive in local showrooms from April 2023 with four- and six-cylinder turbocharged petrol and diesel power, and with a wide variety of grades aimed at both commercial and recreational buyers.

Higher-spec Style, PanAmericana and Aventura grades will arrive first, with trade-tough Core and Life specifications to follow from mid-year.

VW says it will offer the Amarok Style with the choice of a 154kW/500Nm 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel or a 184kW/600Nm 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 and is expected to be the strongest seller of the five variant line-up when it arrives positioned “just above the previous Amarok Highline”.

Among other features, the Style variant will arrive as standard with IQ.Light Matrix LED headlights, a 12.0-inch digital instrument panel and heated, power-adjustable front seats (10-way for the driver and eight-way for the passenger),

PanAmericana and Aventura variants will up the ante further with what VW says is a “new level of off-road and on-road sophistication, respectively”, following in a similar vein to offerings such as the Toyota HiLux Rugged X and Rogue lines.

The off-road-ready Amarok PanAmericana will arrive as standard with 18-inch alloys shod in all-terrain tyres, darkened sports exterior accents, a leather-covered dashboard and premium Harman/Kardon audio.

For the Aventura grade are larger 21-inch alloys, Savona leather upholstery, chrome exterior accenting, and an electric roll tonneau cover.

Volkswagen will offer the Amarok PanAmericana exclusively with V6 diesel power while the Aventura offers a 222kW/452Nm 2.3-litre turbocharged petrol unit, or the diesel V6.

In Australia, Volkswagen anticipates the higher-grade trio will form the lion’s share of Amarok sales.

Volkswagen says that in 2020, Australian buyers of the previous-generation model favoured high-grade sales by 58 per cent, and that by 2022, some 78 per cent of Amaroks sold here were high-grade or flagship variants.

“The Amarok is a pioneer for diesel V6 performance and driving dynamics, in combination with the load carrying and towing capacities the segment expects, and these remain key requirements for our new Volkswagen ute,” said Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles director Ryan Davies.

“Especially late in the lifecycle of the original Amarok we saw customer preferences move towards flagship models, and this trend will continue. Our customers demand performance and value, and that's what we're delivering for powertrain choice, engineering, safety and technology.

“With a new turbo petrol engine, steering and suspension tuned by the finest Volkswagen engineers, and exclusive details such as a leather-covered dash, premium audio, and widescreen digital cockpit, this Amarok more than answers our customer demands.”

The level of Australian input into VW’s new Amarok is higher than ever before with a team of more than 20 designers and engineers stationed in Australia for more than three years during the model’s co-development with its twin-under-the-skin Ford Ranger.

Volkswagen Australia has yet to confirm pricing of its 2023 Amarok range, saying further details will be revealed closer to the model’s April launch.

By way of reference, the current 2022 Volkswagen Amarok line-up is priced from $45,890 and $86,990 plus on-road costs.

Now in its twelfth year of sale, the four-wheel drive Amarok range currently ranks tenth within the 4x4 ute segment. Toyota’s HiLux dominates the market segment with year-to-date sales of 44,217 units ahead of the Ford Ranger (39,015), Mitsubishi Triton (23,039) and Isuzu D-Max (18,744).