The extra-beefy second generation of the VW Amarok pickup has barely been around for three years, but already, there’s a new version on the way. Don’t worry if you’re a die-hard second-gen Amarok fan, though (we’re sure there must be some of you out there) – the boxy-looking truck you see in the design sketch above is an entirely separate model, sharing the same name as the truck we can buy in Europe but bound for the South American market.
Like the European Amarok, which is essentially a reclothed Ford Ranger, the new one, set to arrive in 2027, will be based on an existing pickup rather than being developed from the ground up. This time, VW will lean into its long-standing partnership with SAIC, the Chinese company that also owns MG.
Maxus T90 EV
That makes it likely that the new South American Amarok will be based on one of the pickups already made by SAIC’s commercial vehicle brand, Maxus. This, incidentally, is another name that has its roots in a now-defunct British Leyland brand that SAIC holds the rights to – the Maxus was the last vehicle produced by LDV, maker of those smokey old Convoy vans you still sometimes see being driven around Bristol by people in combat trousers and tie-dye T-shirts.
Maxus’ trucks, including the T90 that we can buy in the UK, are fairly unusual in the mid-size pickup market in that they offer fully electric powertrains in addition to the typical diesel engines found in vehicles like this. The Chinese-market Interstellar X is thought to be the most likely base for the new truck, per Motor1.
VW Amarok (Euro market)
Anyway, none of this is particularly interesting, but what is is how effing chunky this new South American Amarok is. The Ford-based Euro-market truck is already rather swole, but this one turns the boxiness up to 11 and comes complete with a full-width front lightbar. Obviously, an early design sketch like this inevitably exaggerates some features, but even then, we’d like to see more of this sort of beefy design language on trucks.
So, would you prefer this to the Amarok we can already buy in Britain?
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