Volkswagen Amarok Canyon confirmed for Oz

An adventurous new ‘lifestyle’ version of Volkswagen’s Amarok ute will become available in Australia within two months, motoring.com.au can confirm.

Officially, Volkswagen says only that the Amarok Canyon, which was first revealed as a concept in 2012 before making its production debut at last year’s Sao Paulo motor show, remains under consideration Down Under.

However, dealer sources have confirmed the go-anywhere twin-cab, which will be a direct rival for Ford’s Ranger Wildtrack flagship, is locked in for local release around April.

Two different versions of the Amarok Canyon are available in Europe and, although it’s unclear exactly what specification will be offered here, we’d wager that a single model variant will command a price premium over the high-spec Amarok TDI420 Trendline automatic ($53,990 plus on-road costs) upon which it’s likely to be based.

Like the standard Amarok 4x4 twin-cab, the Canyon is available with a 132kW 2.0-litre twin-turbo four-cylinder diesel engine that delivers 400Nm of torque from 1500rpm when matched with a six-speed manual transmission and 420Nm from 1750rpm with an eight-speed auto.

Also available in Europe is a 103kW TDI engine fitted with a single variable-geometry turbo to produce 340Nm from 1600rpm.

Similarly, as with Australia’s regular Amarok 4x4, there are two distinctly different 4x4 drivetrain options, although they’re both dubbed 4MOTION.

Fitted to manual models, the one with the red ‘4’ in its badge comes with a switchable four-wheel drive system via a ‘claw’ coupling, plus low-range off-road gear reduction, which Volkswagen claims allows it to climb 100 per cent grades at an incline of 45 degrees at maximum payload capacity.

The other 4x4 system, which mates to the ZF auto and has a black ‘4’ in its 4MOTION badge, is a permanent 4WD system featuring a Torsen (torque sensing) centre differential that distributes drive between the front and rear wheels, defaulting to 40/60 front/rear in normal conditions.

Volkswagen says the latter delivers greater comfort both on- and off-road, and both versions come with an electronic differential lock that employs automatic brake intervention to enhance rear-end traction on slippery surfaces. A mechanical rear diff lock is also available.

But that’s where the differences end between the standard Amarok and the Canyon, about 70 per cent of which will come to Australia with the hero model’s trademark colour scheme: ‘copper orange’ paint with black elements.

The Amarok is further differentiated by smoked tail-light lenses, body-coloured under-bumper panels, contrasting black wheel-arches liners, black ‘rollover’ bars, black side-sill protection bars, a black rear bumper, black door-handles and two-tone black side decals with CANYON lettering.

Optional external extras for Europe’s Canyon include a number of hard tonneau covers, a black “roll cover”, a four-beam roof-top lighting bar and 18-inch wheels with road tyres – instead of the unique ‘Roca’ 17-inch standard alloys with 245/70 R17 all-terrain tyres.

Inside, there are matt chrome highlights for the dashboard fascia and two-tone part-leather seat trims comprising ‘moonrock’ surfaces and ‘anthracite’ side panels and head restraints. An orange-red finish is also applied to the seams of the seats, the three-spoke leather-clad steering wheel and the gearshifter, as well as the air-vents and seatbelts.

Standard equipment should improve on that of the Highline and could extend to a six-speaker RNS 510 radio-navigation system, climate-control, parking sensors and a reversing camera.

As in all versions of the Amarok, which comes with a five-star safety rating, the Canyon comes standard with twin front and side head/thorax airbags, traction/stability control, front seatbelt pretensioners, five height-adjustable head restraints and five three-point seatbelts. Like all Amarok 4x4s, there’s also an anti-lock braking system with off-road mode and hill descent control.

The Canyon’s 1555mm long, 1620mm wide cargo tray remains unchanged, offering the same 2.52 square metres of load space, cargo anchors in each corner and 889kg payload.

Alas, there is no sign of the Canyon show car’s 40mm suspension lift kit which, combined with its massively over-sized tyres, gave it an 85mm ride height increase. Thankfully, nor do its electrically deployed side steps grace the production model.

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