√2023 Volkswagen Amarok: Raptor fighter not ruled out

A Volkswagen Amarok version of the Ford Ranger Raptor has been ruled out by Ford, but Volkswagen is seeing what else it can cook up.

Volkswagen has poured cold water over the possibility of its own version of a Ford Ranger Raptor with twin-turbo V6 petrol power.

However, the German car giant has left the door open for a locally-developed performance flagship.

The Ford Ranger Raptor – with Fox shocks and coil spring suspension – was not included in the platform-sharing deal with Volkswagen.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles product manager Petr Sulc told Australian media at the international preview drive in South Africa last week the company is trying to mount a business case for such a model.

“If you ask me as a product manager, I will tell you no,” said Mr Sulc. “If you ask me as a sales guy, I will tell you of course, immediately.”

While a performance flagship of the new Volkswagen Amarok is yet to be approved, the executive did not rule it out.

“What will be the goal for the future? We are always thinking of how to make our (vehicle line-up) better and better,” said Mr Sulc, who added such a variant would need to sell in sufficient numbers to justify the financial and engineering investment.

The new Volkswagen Amarok, which is due to arrive in Australia in April 2023, shares the latest generation Ford’s Ranger platform, which is also the basis of the Everest SUV and Ranger Raptor performance pick-up.

While Ford’s twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine is off-limits for the Amarok for now, there is a possibility Volkswagen Australia could assign the Walkinshaw Automotive Group – which completed the W580 program with the original Amarok over the past two years – to extract more grunt from the single-turbo 3.0-litre V6 diesel for a special version that could be combined with suspension and tyre upgrades.

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