The petrol version of the VW Amarok has been put on indefinitely hold for South Africa.
At the start of 2024, the automaker confirmed that the Amarok would receive a new petrol engine in the second half of the year.
However, Volkswagen recently admitted to CARmag that the new drivetrain has been put on ice for the time being, citing that its current selection is enough to tide over our market.
A lost opportunity
The powerplant that South Africa was set to receive would have been a 2.3-litre turbocharged petrol unit, which is already available on the Amarok overseas.
This is the same block found in several Ford products, which is not surprising given that the current-gen Ranger and Amarok were co-developed by the two brands.
As a result, the vehicles share a platform and are actually built in the Ford factory right here in Silverton, Pretoria.
The Ranger will be getting the same 2.3-litre mill very soon, which makes it all the more surprising that VW has elected not to introduce the alternate powertrain.
Admittedly, the Ford is not solely relying on the 2.3l block, as it will form part of a brand-new plug-in hybrid (PHEV) system intended for export to other markets.
VW does not currently have any plans for a PHEV Amarok, but the turbocharged petrol engine would have still been more than up to the task with an output of 222kW and 452Nm.
The company’s initial reasoning for the new drivetrain was that South Africa was seeing a growing interest in upmarket lifestyle double cabs.
A petrol engine is considered to be ideal for this niche since it typically delivers a more responsive driving profile than an equivalent diesel, the latter of which leans more towards a high torque stat for towing and off-roading.
On the other hand, diesel is far more fuel-efficient while being considerably cheaper than petrol right now, costing R17.81 per litre compared to the latter’s R19,94 per litre as of October 2024.
As a point of reference, the 2.3-litre block averages 9.9l/100km, while the most powerful diesel option consumes 8.4l/100km, so there would be a big difference in running costs.
Another concern is price, because while VW never put a number to the 2.3l Amarok, the expectation was that it would be reserved for the flagship models like the Aventura, likely putting its showroom sticker north of R1 million.
It’s probably for both of these reasons that the automaker eventually decided to shelve the idea, at least for now, since times are tough in South Africa at the moment and an expensive-to-buy and costly-to-run bakkie would have likely been a very niche success at best.
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