No Volkswagen Amarok SUV coming

Volkswagen has confirmed there are currently no plans to offer a large three-row SUV version of its new 2023 Volkswagen Amarok ute that goes on sale in Australia early next year.

The second-generation Volkswagen Amarok is based on the new Australian-developed Ford Ranger, which has also spawned a new Ford Everest SUV and the high-performance Ford Ranger Raptor.

But neither Everest nor Ranger Raptor were made available to Volkswagen by Ford, despite requests at the highest levels.

Senior Blue Oval executives have told carsales that the decision was made to protect the considerable engineering development that goes into developing “crown jewels” such as Raptor.

And although Everest is not in the same category, the SUV was also placed out of bounds for the German brand.

Asked whether there would be an SUV spin-off of the new Volkswagen Amarok, which could mirror the Amarok/Ranger program, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles global sales and marketing chief Lars Krause said this week: “It’s always an idea also to set up a robust SUV based on the pick-up, but we do think that the set-up of the pick-up basically is currently best delivering value to our customers.

“That means basically we are also offering accessories like a hard-top [on Amarok] – this will be available also from the beginning – so that’s important.

“So we are delivering extra customer value, and this is why we are focusing on the pick-up version.”

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