A social media post by a senior Volkswagen executive has revealed internal concept designs for a long speculated Volkswagen Amarok ute-based wagon.
Posted to LinkedIn by the Head of Design for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Albert Kirzinger, the concept design showcases a Ford Everest-style wagon in action on a gravel mountain road in a heavy duty off-road spec.
A senior Volkswagen executive posted the render (pictured) to their LinkedIn profile
Kirzinger’s post was captioned: “Exploring design ideas for the Amarok pickup truck! Our research phase back in the day took us on an off-road journey, and here’s a sneak peek with a rendering featuring a fully closed pickup bed. Ready for rugged adventures!”
It’s not clear when the concept was created, nor how far into the development phase the wagon may have proceeded, however the image gives the first visual cue to the vehicle which has predominantly been spoken of theoretically until now.
As part of a partnership between the two auto-giants, Volkswagen’s Amarok ute is built on Ford’s T6.2 platform which is shared with the Ford Ranger ute, and more notably the Ranger-based Everest large SUV, meaning that the idea of an Amarok-based wagon isn’t a far-fetched one from an engineering perspective.
Volkswagen’s Amarok ute (pictured) is built on the same platform as the Ford Ranger ute and Ford Everest SUV
While a platform sharing arrangement and corresponding cost amortisation could make the idea of such a vehicle more feasible for the brand, it’s worth noting that the idea of an Amarok-style wagon has long been speculated.
While the vehicle was said to be “under consideration” in early 2022, most recently the brand played down but didn’t rule out the possibility of introducing an SUV version of the vehicle.
However, the idea of an Amarok wagon dates back even further, with previous comments by Volkswagen indicating that it was under “serious consideration” back in 2016, when the wholly in-house built first-generation ute was on sale.
The Ford Everest wagon (pictured) is based on the Ford Ranger ute
In a potentially similar scenario, the current-generation Mazda BT-50 ute has never had an off-road focused wagon-variant despite the fact the Isuzu D-Max ute has has spawned a large SUV sibling in the MU-X wagon.
It’s also worth noting that Volkswagen already has a large wagon SUV in the form the Touareg, though this model sits on a unibody rather than a body-on-frame platform and features a greater focus on luxury rather than raw off-road capability.