Volkswagen Amarok W475: Opportunity for turbo-petrol Walkinshaw

As Volkswagen unveils its latest Amarok variant, representatives have confirmed they are looking at new opportunities with Walkinshaw Automotive – the performance engineering firm behind the W600.

Based on the Style variant of the German brand's dual-cab 4x4 ute, the forthcoming Volkswagen Amarok W600 is powered by a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 making 184kW of power and 600Nm of torque, with the team working primarily on improving handling to make it a more driver-focused ute.

However, with the revised Amarok lineup now including a Style TSI452 variant powered by a 2.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, CarExpert asked whether Walkinshaw’s expertise could be married with the powertrain from the TSI452.

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“I think the answer is never say never,” said Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Australia brand director, Nathan Johnson.

“We evaluate every opportunity in front of us, and we definitely evaluated that engine as part of [the W600]. We made, I think, a very easy decision with the facts in front of us, that the V6 was the best opportunity here,” he explained.

The 2.3-litre turbo-petrol engine is standard in North America's version of the Ford Ranger, the Amarok's sister model, and makes 222kW and 452Nm in the Amarok Style TSI452, but the same engine makes 232kW and 475Nm in the Ford Mustang EcoBoost.

As well as being popular in the tuning and aftermarket communities, the turbo-petrol engine also weighs approximately 78kg less than the V6 – lightening the front-end and, presumably, improving handling dynamics.

“I won’t say that we’ve made the wrong decision at all,” Mr Johnson said of the turbo-diesel V6.

“But the opportunity with Walkinshaw allows us to continue to evaluate every opportunity in front of us, and that’s the beauty of this relationship.”

MORE: Explore the Volkswagen Amarok showroom