Volkswagen Amarok Walkinshaw 2027: With W600 about to launch, Walkinshaw/VW are expected to soon announce new options, potential export

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Now that the new-generation Amarok W-series is ready to launch, Walkinshaw Automotive and Volkswagen Australia have hinted that there’s more to come – both in terms of likely additional options, potential output upgrades and, almost certainly, export opportunities.

Given the long-term investment by Walkinshaw Automotive Group to relocate to a massive brand-new, green-field facility in Dandenong South (with a 110m-long production line), there’s now significant band width for expanding W-series volume beyond previous levels – all with the full support of VW’s head office in Wolfsburg.

Around 2600 units of the original W-series were produced across two years – a sizeable percentage of total Amarok sales given its combined 2022/23 volume was 11,140 units.

Speaking to Chasing Cars at the pre-production drive of the new W600, the brand director of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Australia, Nathan Johnson, was upbeat about the wealth of possibilities available through its partnership with Walkinshaw Automotive.

“The opportunity [with] Walkinshaw is open in terms of how we look at it, and that’s the beauty of the relationship we have with them,” he said.

“We had a really strong partnership last time around – they are a trusted partner. We know they are the best in Australia at what they do, and that opens plenty of opportunity for us.

What that is right now, we don’t have a detailed roadmap, but we are exploring other opportunities – whether that be potential successors [to vehicles such as the W580 X off-road variant], potential accessories, potential enhancements.”

“We are very serious about this car [the W-series Amarok]. It’s not a set-and-forget model – it will be something that we look to enhance. But right now, I don’t have anything concrete to tell you [in terms of] what’s on the plans,” said Johnson.

“But having a trusted partner like Walkinshaw, and the expertise that you’ve obviously seen out there today. They are the best at what they do, so we will evaluate anything they bring to the table. Could it work for us, and will it work for both of us? There has to be a business case behind everything we do,” he said.

While nothing specific was communicated about future W-series models, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ product manager for Amarok and Walkinshaw, Michael Cenci, made an illuminating point about the foundation work having already been done for expanding its Walkinshaw-developed Amarok line-up.

“The amount of focus and development that Walkinshaw have done on this product – they’ve had 10 or 12 of our cars, they’ve done thousands and thousands of kilometres, they’ve been testing, durability testing, validation testing, they’ve been putting the car on a jig and twisting it.

“As you’ve seen, they understand, along with us, this platform on a very, very deep level. So when it comes to now the opportunity to investigate other opportunities, the groundwork has been laid to allow us to do that,” said Cenci.

“It’s not something that we’re committing to – it’s not something that we’re going to push the button on right now – but having that knowledge in the two teams is something which sets us up very well,” he said.

Regarding Walkinshaw performing any development work on other VW commercials, Nathan Johnson said the company was “definitely evaluating opportunities,” though not necessarily performance-type vehicles.

“We are looking at other potential smaller projects with them that won’t have the press exposure but will meet the needs of customers and fleet customers potentially as well. So while Walkinshaw have experience in performance vehicles and conversion, they also have the opportunity and expertise to do a lot more.

“There is huge opportunity there for us. But Walkinshaw has also been exposed to our global team as well, and I have to say that the response on that has been phenomenal in terms of the expertise, so there is opportunity for us to export potential packages and so forth to other markets, which is great for Walkinshaw and their future of Australian manufacturing,” he said.

This involves not only potentially sending CKD (Completely Knocked Down) packs of W600 componentry to other markets (such as the production base in South Africa) but also exporting fully built-up vehicles to other Asia-Pacific markets. As well as Walkinshaw potentially setting up engineering consultancy and production bases in other markets.

The Volkswagen crew did spring one surprise at the W600 pre-production drive, however – an Amarok W600 test mule fitted with an uprated braking package of unspecified disc and caliper size, intended to elevate the Amarok’s already-impressive braking ability.

“There are other opportunities to enhance the products that we have out there that may not be for every customer. So what we need to bring to market is a very competitive base model [the W600] – or halo model, I should say – [and] for customers that want more [to be able to further upgrade their vehicles], and Walkinshaw is very well known for [building] on top of that base package,” said Johnson. 

What helps amortise the development cost of these Amarok engineering enhancements is that it’s starting near the beginning of its lifecycle. The second-generation Amarok is barely three years’ old – and will likely survive until the mid-2030s – whereas the previous Amarok was a decade old before Walkinshaw began working on it.