New Volkswagen Amarok ‘W600X’ may get V6 power boost

The new 2023 Volkswagen Amarok could get a Walkinshaw-infused power boost in its quest to provide a rough-road counterpunch to the Ford Ranger Raptor.

But Volkswagen Australia is gearing up to position its yet-to-be-announced new Walkinshaw-developed Amarok ‘W600X’ off-road flagship as a very different car to the gravel-spitting Raptor that slurps through its fair share of unleaded at the top of the Ranger line-up.

While Ford has made it clear the Raptor and its twin-turbo petrol V6 are off limits to Volkswagen as part of the model sharing arrangement with the new Ranger and Amarok, the German car-maker says it is considering powertrain modifications for its new Amarok flagship to replace the outgoing W580X.

Key to those options could be a locally-developed performance boost for the 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel that is expected to account for the bulk of the 10,000 annual sales Volkswagen Australia is shooting for with the new Amarok, which arrives Down Under in the first half of 2023.

“Whether that’s something we need to investigate with the new one in future I guess we’ll see,” says Ryan Davies, Volkswagen Australia’s director of commercial vehicles.

Key to any potential Australian performance modifications for the new Amarok is an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) level of engineering and durability to maintain the ute’s five-year factory warranty.

The new Amarok’s Ford-sourced 3.0-litre V6 single-turbo diesel is down on power compared with the Volkswagen engine of the same capacity in the outgoing model.

But its 6kW peak power deficit is balanced by a 20Nm boost in torque and a 10-speed auto (up from eight ratios in the old ute).

Still, given the constantly changing nature of the ute market, Volkswagen appears keen to maintain its performance edge.

The key to a local modification program, according to Davies, is the right engineering and manufacturing partner.

“If you’re going to do something like that [engine modifications] you’d have to have a reputable partner that knows what they’re doing and potentially backs themselves [with warranty support],” he says.

However, Davies ruled out an entire engine transplant (something Walkinshaw did with V8-powered Commodores for Holden and also dabbled in with the Colorado ute) as “a bridge too far”.

But Davies hinted that instead of creating a Raptor rival, Volkswagen might aim for some clear air by creating an Amarok derivative that could stand out in an increasingly congested ute segment.

“That in itself maybe gives us an opportunity because we know where Raptor is in the market,” he says.

“I think we can do something that is not Raptor that is uniquely Amarok and will compete in a different way. Whether that be off-road or whether that be some other offering that we come up with, this is where we’ve got to sit down with the Walkinshaw guys and nut it out.”

One area Volkswagen believes its next Amarok flagship will have an edge in is fuel economy.

The Raptor has an official combined fuel consumption figure of 11.5L/100km, which is 37 per cent more than the Ranger V6 diesel – and if you’re regularly dipping into its 292kW peak output you can expect to use plenty more than that.

By tweaking the V6 diesel, Volkswagen could appeal to off-road enthusiasts who want a longer driving range but a bit more excitement than the 184kW/600Nm currently on offer.

Volkswagen is also leaving the door open to modifications elsewhere, although a wholesale re-engineering of the suspension system – as with the Raptor – has been all but ruled out.

“We can go down it to a degree [the path of suspension modifications], can we go down it as far as you see with Raptor? I’m not a technical expert… I’d hazard to say that wouldn’t be possible.”

Davies said that’s where he’ll turn to the experts at Walkinshaw.

“We’ll have to lean on them to see what we can really achieve.”

Either way, expect the new Amarok to get a more serious assortment of modifications given the vehicle doesn’t arrive until around April 2023 and these discussions are already under way.

The previous Amarok W580S and W580X had about two years on the market at the tail-end of the original Amarok’s life cycle.

The new one is likely to leverage most of the anticipated 10-year cycle of the all-new model.

“The opportunity on new Amarok is massive because obviously the payback time is a lot longer,” says Davies. “The sky’s the limit in terms of what we can potentially do there.

“With the payback period being long that means you can investigate maybe different things that potentially we may not have been able to investigate with the current one.”

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