VW is preparing a new generation of its midsize pickup with electrification and potentially serious power. With the U.S. hungry for trucks, the obvious question is whether the Amarok should finally cross the border.
Volkswagen has never sold the Amarok in the United States, which feels increasingly strange considering just how pickup-obsessed America has become. The truck is already available next door in Mexico, and now VW is preparing a new generation that could make the forbidden fruit considerably more tempting.
Volkswagen recently previewed the next Amarok in Brazil, showing a camouflaged prototype alongside the new Tukan, a smaller pickup designed for the South American market. VW isn’t saying much about the Amarok yet, but it has confirmed that the next generation will offer electrification and more power than any Amarok before it.
And potentially a lot more power.
A 464-HP Amarok?
According to Motor1 Brazil, the new lineup is expected to include an Amarok 800 TSI producing 464 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque.
Those are serious numbers for a midsize pickup. For perspective, that would push the Amarok well beyond the output normally associated with a straightforward work truck and give VW something genuinely interesting in an increasingly performance-conscious pickup market.
Exactly how the electrified powertrain will be configured remains unclear, and Volkswagen hasn’t released complete technical specifications. But the 800 TSI’s reported output suggests the next Amarok could represent a substantial departure from its predecessors.
The truck itself remains largely hidden beneath camouflage, although its proportions suggest VW isn’t abandoning the conventional midsize-pickup formula.
There’s Another VW Pickup Coming, Too
The Amarok wasn’t alone at Volkswagen’s Brazilian presentation. The automaker also showed the next-generation Tukan, a smaller pickup that will sit below the Amarok.
That distinction matters. Volkswagen has a much deeper pickup presence in Latin America than many American buyers might realize, and trucks there aren’t necessarily treated as expensive lifestyle accessories.
In Brazil and Mexico, Volkswagen has decades of local manufacturing history and a customer base already familiar with the brand as a producer of affordable, practical vehicles. Its pickups consequently have a role in commercial and fleet use as well as private ownership.
That makes the business case rather different from the one VW would face in the United States.
So Why Not Bring the Amarok to America?
That’s the obvious question.
Volkswagen’s U.S. market share remains relatively small, while pickups continue to represent one of the industry’s most important and profitable segments. VW has also previously discussed developing a pickup for America, including plans involving its Chattanooga, Tennessee, manufacturing operation.
Simply importing the Amarok, however, isn’t necessarily the easy answer it appears to be.
American midsize pickups operate in an intensely competitive market. The Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger, Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, and Nissan Frontier already have established followings, while fleet customers tend to be especially difficult for a new entrant to pry away from familiar brands.
Volkswagen would therefore need more than a bed behind the passenger compartment. It would need a compelling reason for American truck buyers to choose a VW.
A 464-hp electrified Amarok might be one.
For now, though, Americans wanting an Amarok still have to look south. The frustrating part is that Volkswagen’s midsize truck is already being sold in North America—just on the other side of the Mexican border.