Americans Might Get to Drive the Amarok After All (Sorta)

Remember when Ford and Volkswagen signed a development deal in June and we were all crossing our fingers for a pickup? Well, it could kind of be happening.

Australia’s GoAuto reports that VW’s Australian managing director, Michael Bartsch, thinks an Amarok-Ranger tie-up is the only logical next step. Unfortunately, it’s still too early say for sure.

“I think it would be disingenuous of me to say there is nothing going on with Ford,” says Bartsch. But he thinks the Amarok is currently too expensive in an extremely competitive market, so something’s gotta give.

“What I think is very clear is, in order to be competitive in Australia, we have to get the cost base of [Amarok] down. It’s being produced in Argentina and Germany and both of those are high-cost markets for a product that is in the most competitive environment that you can be in.”

He added, though, that even if the two brands share a platform, each pickup would preserve its unique identity.

Unfortunately, as Bartsch prefaced his statements, it’s still early to confirm the project. The deal is still just a memorandum of understanding and spy photos of a Ford Transit testing alongside a VW Crafter suggest that this is a more urgent focus for Ford and VW.

Even more unfortunately, even if Ford and VW co-develop a small pickup together, that doesn’t necessarily mean that VW will bring it to the US. Even if they don’t though, with Ford bringing the Ranger to the States, people who are really dedicated to the idea of owning an Amarok will be able to buy a Ranger and change its badges to have something that looks vaguely right and drives like a VW. It’s not much, but it’s something, I guess.

A vehicle based on this partnership won’t be ready for some time, though. So don’t expect to be able to badge reverse-engineer your Amarok until some time in the ‘20s.

Ford is no stranger to playing nice with others. It recently co-developed its lauded 10-speed automatic transmission with GM.

[source: GoAuto]

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