The head of Volkswagen says he is “really impressed” with the platform that will underpin the next-generation Amarok and Ford Ranger.
Back in January 2019, VW and Ford announced the first “formal agreements in a broad alliance” that will include the Blue Oval brand engineering and building “medium-sized” bakkies for both companies. That effectively means the next-gen Amarok will be based on the next-gen Ranger, with the first bakkies built under the alliance set hit the market “as early as 2022”.
Speaking to Motor Trend, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said the two companies were still “building up the relationship”.
“I just drove last week the pickups, the platform that we will share, and was really impressed with the capability of the product in the pipeline, so I am very positive on the Ford partnership,” he told the US-based publication.
“We still are working on enlarging it and doing more together, but it takes time,” Diess added.
The 60-year-old furthermore revealed the upcoming Ranger-based Amarok would also be offered in North America, which suggests the unibody Atlas Tanoak concept might not make it into production.
“The Ranger-sized segment is growing fast worldwide, also in Indonesia, in Asia. In the US, it’s growing, which we didn’t expect, and also minor volumes in Europe, South Africa, Latin America, so we think together with Ford we can really make a difference,” he said.
