A fresh report out of Australia claims the next-generation Volkswagen Amarok will not only be based on the Ford Ranger’s platform but use the Blue Oval bakkie’s engines, too.
VW recently has confirmed the second-generation Amarok would be built alongside the next Ranger at Ford’s assembly plant in Silverton, South Africa from 2022.
Now, however, CarAdvice reports the next Amarok will “adopt at least two key Ford engines”. The first, says the publication, is the Dearborn-based firm’s twin-turbo 2,0-litre diesel unit, as used in the Ranger Raptor and other derivatives (as well as the Everest).
The second is Ford’s 3,0-litre turbodiesel V6, which is rumoured to be lined up for use in the next-gen Raptor. CarAdvice claims both engines will be linked to Ford’s 10-speed automatic transmission.
If the report turns out to be accurate, that’d mean the end of the line for the current Amarok’s 3,0-litre V6 oil-burner.
While VW’s official statement makes no mention of powertrains, it does say the next-gen Ranger and Amarok models will be “clearly differentiated” through “custom designs and interfaces”.
In March 2020, VW released the first teaser sketch of the second-generation Amarok (prompting this render). At the start of 2019, the two firms announced the first “formal agreements in a broad alliance” that would include the Blue Oval brand engineering and building “medium-sized” bakkies “for both companies”.
That initial joint statement from the two brands indicated the first bakkies built under the alliance would hit the market “as early as 2022”.
