This is the all-new 2023 Volkswagen Amarok, carefully camouflaged and it has been spotted in the United States of America. Here’s the latest on the Wolfsburg-based brand’s Hilux fighter.

Picture credit:S. Baldauf/SB-Medien. We have paid for these photos and at the photographer’s request, have watermarked them.

The 2023 Volkswagen Amarok has been spotted testing! Good timing, as the Volkswagen Amarok is one of the oldest bakkies on sale in South Africa and despite the addition of a thundering V6 engine, is really starting to show its age.

The big news is that if you remember correctly, back in early 2019Volkswagen and Ford signed an agreement to develop and share costs on the new generation of commercial vehicles. So that’s bakkies and vans (think Caddy and Transit). During the conference, Volkswagen chairman Herbert Diess said the new Amarok will be one of the first fruits of thecollaboration between Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and American carmaker Ford.

There will be a lot of shared technology and we expect this 2nd-generation Volkswagen Amarok to feature a lot of kit with the all-newFord Ranger, and both models are expected to go on sale after 2022.

So what you see here is the first Volkswagen Amarok prototype spotted at Ford’s test track in Dearborn, Michigan. There will be many shared components across the two vehicles, but the designs should be quite different. Think of the current shape Isuzu D-Max and the Mazda BT-50, they’re mechanically similar, yet the fronts are poles apart.

While everything is still under wraps, our spy photographers have focused on the headlight and taillight designs of both the Amarok and the Ranger, showing us there will be a difference between the two models.

With this testing taking place in the United States at Ford’s HQ, it appears the Blue Oval is doing most of the work. Let’s not forget that both the new Volkswagen Amarok and Ford Ranger will be assembled right here in South Africa, at Ford’s factory in Silverton, Pretoria in 2022.

While the engine lineup is yet to be confirmed, we expect both petrol and diesel powertrains to be made available, but we have questions. Ford’s Struandale factory in Gqeberhahas an assembly line dedicated to inline configuration engines. To produce a V6 on this line, as it currently stands, would be expensive. A possible 6-cylinder solution is the production of Ford’s 3.0-litre Power Stroke V6 turbodiesel, for installation in both firms’ next-generation bakkies.

The Power Stroke turbodiesel is rated at 186 kW and 600Nm, making it adequately potent to replace the Amarok’s 3.0-litre V6. However, if Ford decides to utilise the Power Stroke motor inthe next-generation Ranger and Amarokit will producein Silverton, it wouldn’t feature exclusively in the German firm’s bakkie. No, if the Ford V6 gets the go-ahead for local production, it will be present in both the Ford and VW, which means the Amarok will loseits unique trump card as the only V6 diesel bakkie in Mzansi.

We’ll keep a close eye on this fascinating collaboration.

A sketch from VW in March 2021 showing what’s potentially coming.

Further Reading

How the AmaFord changes everything

2022 Ford Ranger Details Leaked

2022 Volkswagen Amarok: What We Know So Far