The collaboration between Ford and Volkswagen is about to bear fruit, with the German company teasing us with images of its Ford Ranger-based Amarok successor overnight.
So far dubbed the Volkswagen Amarok Mark II internally, the follow-up to the expensively made Amarok will be the first evidence of a collaboration that will also see Ford use Volkswagen’s MEB platform for its European electric vehicle (EV) range.
“Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has taken a major strategic step through its co-operation with Ford,” said VW chief Herbert Diess in a speech at the German car-maker's annual media conference yesterday, when it revealed this official sketch.
The alliance between the two car-making giants was signed in January last year, when the fine print revealed the MkII Amarok was likely to hit showrooms in 2022.
The road car won’t look much like the sketch, though, with its impossibly huge off-road tyres, enormous wheel-arch flares and Trophy Truck suspension, but the profile will be far more modern than that of the original Amarok launched in 2010.
Like the all-new 2021 ‘T7’ Ford Ranger that will merge next year as the final Australian-engineered generation of the nation’s top-selling 4x4 ute, the 2022 Volkswagen Amarok will continue without electrified powertrains.
However, both models are tipped to bring both four-cylinder and V6 turbo-petrol and diesel engines.