BUENOS AIRES, Brazil — Volkswagen is on the muscle in South America, where it has been a major player for the past 50 years. This week, VW formally launched its new Amarok pickup, which is being assembled at the Pacheco plant in Argentina, and it announced a massive $3.5 billion investment to hike production capacity in Brazil and broaden its South American product portfolio.
VW boss Martin Winterkorn said the company wants to build a million vehicles a year in Brazil by 2014, from around 800,000 in 2009. Assembly plants at Anchieta and Taubate are being expanded, and the company is in the midst of introducing a string of new vehicles in Brazil, VW's third-largest global market after China and Germany.
Over the past two years, VW in South America has redesigned the Gol, the Saveiro, the Voyage and the Fox, and a new Cross Fox has just been introduced.
The Amarok is the company's first entry in the midsize-pickup segment. It goes on sale in South America early next year and will be shipped to European markets in the second half of 2010. So far, there is no final decision on whether the truck will be offered in North America. VW says key markets include South Africa and Australia.
Developed in Germany and built on a ladder-type frame like the Honda Ridgeline, the Amarok is being launched initially as a four-door double-cab model. A single-cab variant will be added in the first half of 2011.
At launch, the Amarok will be offered with a single turbodiesel engine: a 161-horsepower 2.0-liter TDI four-cylinder rated at 295 pound-feet of torque, to be followed at midyear by a smaller TDI delivering 121 hp and 251 lb-ft. Both engines will be coupled with a six-speed manual gearbox and are expected to return fuel economy of more than 30 mpg.
VW plans to offer the Amarok in three trim levels, with a choice of rear-wheel drive, switchable all-wheel drive and full-time all-wheel drive and an optional rear differential lock available on all versions.
Inside Line says: Sharp design. Dumb name. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent
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1919diesel says:
06:39 AM, 12/08/2009
PLEASE!!!! Give us a mid-sized diesel pickup!! We are dying for something like that.... sadly, we may be stuck with the Mahindra PikUp as our only option. Even VW's in-famously poor quality will look good when compared to that import from India. PLEASE!!!
alman08 says:
09:23 AM, 12/07/2009
agree with jessmellon, and in my opinion, the Amarok looks better than the Ridgeline, and the TDI is a plus. Wonder if Ford can showhow fit an euro diesel into the Explorer Sport...
jessemellon says:
09:14 AM, 12/07/2009
It makes me sad that this vehicle isn't available in the U.S. -- this thing would be at the absolute top of my list, now that the global Ranger is out for the forseeable future. Is there really no market here? Do people really not want smaller trucks?