Amarok is a nameplate from Volkswagen that is been titled as the International Pickup Truck of the year.
Among the big brands in the pickup industry Volkswagen is the chosen one.
The title was in a UK newspaper that is dedicated to only trucks. The company was bagged with the award during the IAA Commercial Truck trade show Germany.
At the annual expo in Hanover Germany truck manufacturers around the world participated and showcase their newest models. Seven globally sold trucks form manufacturers such as Isuzu, Volkswagen, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Ford and Toyota were judged by the testers for various parameters on performance. All the models were pushed to limits on both on and off road and the vehicle listing was narrowed down to few.
In the U.S. due to heavy taxation on internationally built vehicles, there is only a handful of option that you can go for while buying these trucks domestically. And even if one gets internationally made truck, they miss the diesel engine that doesn’t stand emission regulation in the U.S.
Mazda/Ford had showcased their latest Ranger. Toyota’s Hilux pickup couldn’t with stand the tough competition from other new models. Nissan Navara was a reasonable truck and won highly on styling and on interior design and comfort but lost points on ground clearance during off road test. Isuzu D-Max was praised by the jury and was called very impressive thanks to its off roading skills, but the pickup was not the best performer.
The closest contender was the Mitsubishi L200 which was the most powerful generating 175 horsepower and was praised by the team for off road skill and comfort.
All of the companies had showcased best performing trucks but nothing could match what Volkswagen had to give.
Amarok was first introduced in 2009, and due to its high off road capability was used, in the 2010 Dakar Rally, as a key support vehicle. This was the platform Amarok got to show up it’s off- roading skills. The Amarok is powered by a 2.0 liter turbo diesel engine and comes with rear wheel, four wheel and all wheel drive. Volkswagen offers the truck in three trim levels with single or double cab.
Amarok has a well appointed and roomy cabin that was praised by testers at MotorSport. Regardless of Amarok wining the title of the best international truck of the year the jury member said the truck should be tweaked for better off road performance to withstand competition.
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