Unseen Volkswagen Amarok SUV concept breaks cover

An SUV version of the Volkswagen Amarok – a twin to the Ford Ranger ute and Ford Everest four-wheel-drive wagon – was on the drawing board early in the design process of the new ute.

It is unclear if an Amarok wagon ever proceeded beyond the sketch phase – and Volkswagen executives in Germany have ranged from hesitant to interested when asked about the potential for a VW twin to the Ford Everest.

A sketch posted online by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles design boss Albert Kirzinger shows Volkswagen was at one point considering an Everest-like Amarok wagon.

“Exploring design ideas for the Amarok pickup truck! Our research phase back in the day took us on an off-road journey, and here’s a sneak peek with a rendering featuring a fully closed pick-up bed,” the executive said on corporate social-media platform LinkedIn.

It’s unclear how far into the design process – which began in 2017 or 2018 when Ford and Volkswagen first met to define the dimensions and features of their twinned utes – this sketch was created.

While Mr Kirzinger describes the car pictured as having a “fully closed pick-up bed”, it is not a ute with a canopy, rather is a true Ford Everest or Isuzu MU-X-esque five-door wagon with a shorter wheelbase than a dual-cab ute, and bespoke bodywork.

Volkswagen has previously said there are no current plans for an Amarok-based wagon, but some executives have expressed an intention for one, with a caveat: it would be electric, rather than petrol or diesel-powered.

“I think in the next 12 months, we will have more of a decision about this topic,” Waldemar Bauf, VW Commercial Vehicles product planner, told Drive in early December 2022, more than 13 months ago.

“If you ask me, if I bring [an electric Amarok], then I will bring both [an electric Amarok ute and wagon].”

Asked in the comments of the LinkedIn post if sharing the sketch “a hint that there is a VW sibling of the Everest on the way,” Mr Kirzinger did not confirm it was the case, but did not rule it out: “Sorry – but no further hint.”