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A new generation of the Amarok is closing in, with VW teasing the mid-size pickup under camouflage right after it pulled the covers off the smaller Tukan for South America over the weekend. Built to take on the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, and Mitsubishi Triton, this one will have little in common with any Amarok that came before it.
Read: VW Built A Ranger-Based Sports Truck That Costs More Than The Ranger Raptor
It arrives in 2027, and according to Motor1 Brazil, production goes to VW’s General Pacheco plant in Argentina, which already builds the current truck. This generation is believed to be reserved for South America, with a handful of other markets possible.
Volkswagen has been working on it for at least a couple of years, and while the company still hasn’t confirmed the details, the truck is thought to come out of VW’s long-running partnership with SAIC, possibly sharing hardware with the Maxus Interstellar X.
A Tale Of Two Amaroks
Borrowing someone else’s engineering is a common practice in the mid-size pickup segment these days, as the Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi Triton showed, and VW already went that way with the global-spec, second-generation Amarok, which has been based on the Ford Ranger since 2022.
South America took a different route, as VW never retired the first-generation truck there, keeping the 2010 original in production on its own older ladder-frame platform and handing it a second facelift in 2024. That leaves the two current Amaroks sharing a badge and nothing else, one built on Ford hardware and the other on a design Europe stopped buying in 2020.
Images of South America’s next Amarok confirm it will look quite a lot different than the outgoing model. The front end is all-new, sporting a full-width LED light bar and two additional DRLs positioned just before the hood shut line. Below sits a shallow grille split by two horizontal slats.
Viewed from the side, we can see square wing mirror caps, squared wheel arches, chunky door handles, angular windows, and prominent roof rails. These images don’t show the new Amarok from the rear, but it too will be very different from the existing model.
Chinese Underpinnings?
The new Amarok is understood to share its bones with SAIC’s Maxus Interstellar X, sold as the LDV Terron 9 outside China, Australia included. Judging dimensions from camouflaged photos is always guesswork, but for what it’s worth, the VW looks neither as wide nor as long as the Maxus.
For reference, the Interstellar X measures roughly 5.50 meters (216.5 inches) long and 2.01 meters (79.1 inches) wide, riding on a 3.30-meter (129.9-inch) wheelbase. The current Amarok stretches 5.35 meters (210.6 inches) with 3.10 meters (122.0 inches) between the axles.
A 470-HP Plug-In Hybrid Up Top
Full powertrain details remain unannounced. VW has confirmed the next generation will be electrified and the most powerful Amarok to date. Motor1 Brazil reports that a range-topping version called the 800 TSI could use a plug-in hybrid setup making more than 470 hp and 590 lb-ft (800 Nm) of torque, enough to reach 100 km/h (62 mph) in under five seconds. All-wheel drive is expected on that model. A turbo-diesel should stick around too, since the Maxus Interstellar X already sells one with a 2.5-liter oil-burner.
