Raptor fighting Volkswagen Amarok ‘R’ again wiped off the table
· Citizen
Volkswagen has again ruled out plans for a high performance R version of the Amarok along the lines of alliance partner Ford’s Ranger Raptor.
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Six year rumour
First mentioned six years ago, initial speculation came to nothing after the Blue Oval, reportedly, declined to provide Wolfsburg with the blueprints drawing for the Raptor.
A reported investigation into producing an Amarok R was said to have taken place, but ultimately came to nothing upon the second generation’s world debut in Cape Town in 2022.
Two years before, Germany’s Autobild claimed the R would produce 221 kW from a then unspecified four-cylinder diesel engine.
Volkswagen Australia’s then Commercial Vehicle division boss, Ryan Davies, promptly confirmed that an investigation had been set into motion, but stopped short of confirming anything else.
Not happening
In the latest development, though, Volkswagen Australia Commercial Vehicles Brand Director Nathan Johnson affirmed that an R-badged Amarok won’t happen as a result of the moniker being exclusive to the brand’s passenger vehicles.
“No, we wouldn’t touch [the R] nameplate. That nameplate is for German passenger vehicles. It’s synonymous with the [passenger vehicle] brand,” Johnson told carexpert.com.au.
Instead, Johnson stated that the Walkinshaw-tuned Amarok W600 suffices as the equivalent of an Amarok R despite it offering no power gains over the standard 3.0-litre Lion turbodiesel V6 engine.
He also added that the “R nameplate is a very sacred nameplate” and while the W600 is a homage to such a model, “for calling it an R, no, I wouldn’t personally as a brand director, I wouldn’t touch that, because it’s sacred”.
For R, go W
Devised as more of an on-road than off-road product compared to the Raptor, the W600 retains the same all-wheel drive system as the Amarok Aventura on which it is based, but with road-going 20-inch alloy wheels and a revised suspension set-up for road use.
At the same time, the second W-Series model after the original Amarok W580X boasts wider front and rear tracks, Koni-sourced shock absorbers and frequency selective dampers, plus a rear sway bar in place of the normal Amarok’s front-mounted unit.
Unlike the rumoured 221 kW output, the W600 develops the same 184kW/600Nm as the normal Amarok.
Instead, the 222kW/452Nm produced by the Ford-based 2.3-litre EcoBoost engine powering the petrol Amarok can be seen as the indirect “replacement” for the R’s alleged diesel unit.
For South Africa?
Meanwhile, Volkswagen Group Africa has confirmed the “shelving” of the W600 for now, as plans had been in place to introduce it in the final quarter of the year.
Instead, the line-up will be bolstered by a second petrol variant modelled on the Adventura from August.