Fresh Volkswagen Amarok sketched

Volkswagen has provided a sneak-peek at the first significant upgrade for its Amarok ute in five years.

As you can see from these three official teaser sketches, the German one-tonner scores more angular front-end and interior designs.

Outside, there's what appears to amount to a new front bumper with sharper edges, rectangular fog lights and a bold lower skid plate, while Volkswagen says all model grades gain "considerably" bigger wheels to add further aggression.

The sharper look continues inside, where the original Amarok's circular shapes and round air-vents are replaced by an edgier new dashboard with squared-off air-vents and multimedia screen atop a chunky new centre stack.

The company claims the midlife cosmetic makeover makes the Amarok appear more athletic outside and more premium inside, as well as "more attractive as a pick-up" and more appealing to "customer groups that until now have shopped in the classic SUV segment".

No other details have been announced – Volkswagen promises more to come in the next few weeks -- but the 2016 Amarok is likely to bring upgraded 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engines and more standard equipment across the range.

Well known for its on-road refinement, comfort and efficiency, as well as its off-road capability, the Amarok should remain available in single- and dual-cab body styles, 4x2 and 4x4 configurations and various trim levels, with manual and automatic transmissions and two diesel engine outputs.

The Amarok found more than 8500 customers last year in Australia's lucrative pick-up/cab-chassis market, and is the first Volkswagen model to be recalled as part of the company's 'dieselgate' emissions cheating scam.

However, that amounts to only about four per cent of the 175,000 utes registered in 2016, when the Toyota HiLux topped the charts with more than 30,000 sales, narrowly ahead of the Ford Ranger, Mitsubishi Triton, Holden Colorado, Nissan Navara, Isuzu D-Max and Mazda BT-50.

Volkswagen arrived late to the party with its first global one-tonne ute, which arrived Down Under in early 2011, and also trails its key competitors in terms of its model cycle.

Last year saw all-new HiLux, Navara and Triton utes released, as well as the facelifted Ranger and BT-50, while a revised Colorado, D-Max and LandCruiser 70-Series will follow later this year.

The Amarok will be joined by a bevy of all-new new utes from European brands in the next few years, including Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat, plus Jeep and Hyundai.

Volkswagen says the refreshed Amarok will go on sale in the UK before the end of 2016, so we should also see it this year in Australia, one of its largest right-hand drive market.