Volkswagen Amarok: the official support vehicle for 2010 Dakar Rally

Pretty cool, truck. If priced right this would be a hit in america.

Took long enough!!!!!!!!!!

There is no technical info to have an informed opinion, all that I can say is that it looks pretty. I am sure that the production version of the truck that will be available to the general public will not be able to drive the Dakar, I am getting sick of all the heavily modified vehicles that drive these races and claim how tough they are, I would be impressed if the factory version of the truck would race these races with the same shocks and tires and no extra cages...They should already come like that.

David999: "Will it be reliable? VW would be better off by asking Toyota for some Hilux pickups!"

@Willis: That was their strategy for years in Europe, with the rebadged VW Taro. This actually reminds me of a Honda Ridgeline. And that's not a compliment. That said, let's see because VW can do no wrong in America these days it seems.

VW can do nothing wrong? lol I guess that they are good for the economy when they have to be fixed all the time,lol And you are right it does look like the Ridgeline, I wonder if this truck even has a low range? It looks like a princess to me.

So VW is now making a Honda Ridgeline variant? Except is cuter with it's Golf front end. (everyone say Awwwww). Chances are it will be priced out of market when compared to it's target segments. And most people in this segment do not want a VW to begin with, and many VW owners do not want a pickup. They stick to their sedans, hatchbacks, wagons, and domes. People didn't even want a mini-van, just look at the Town & Cou....I mean Routan. An updated Euro-van would have done better to appease VW's base. Or even the miro-bus concept brought to life. But not these vehicles. Sorry, get's a FAIL from me.

Yeah dude they're probably not aware of that. Hopefully someone from VW R&D will read this before they ship a few of these to the desert only to watch them immediately sink up to the hubs. But that's fine, since the bone-stock Touaregs they are going to run won't make it much further than the "support" vehicle anyway. I'm sure there is no plan to modify them at all. Just wing it.

The photo is the Search and Rescue concept from over a year ago.

Finally some people that feel the same as I do, The most true statement said by whelan other than it looks like a princess is that it will be "priced out of the market" This will never compete with the F-150, ever! The ridgeline will be the first princess if this vw is released.

Ok, I'll admit that it's "cuter" than an F-150, but as far as not being able to compete...come on. VW can do rugged, just look at the Touareg. Maybe it doesn't have the hard-core looks, but 7700 pound tow capacity, three locking diffs, air suspension, and a new extreme off-road package, you can't deny that it's a beast off-road and tows as much as a mid-level F-150, all in a smaller pacakge. So again, other than your obvious import bias, why won't it compete? It sounds like the same stuff people said about the Tundra early on.

Credit where credit is due. That's all I'm saying.

jpighetti, three lockers on the Vw, that is impressive, what is not impressive are the small tires and I can assume it would have limited wheel travel, The F-150 Raptor has two lockers too, the transfer case locks like a real truck should, so it is like it has three lockers. The Vw should run 35 in tires and at least 13 inches of wheel travel, preferably more like 25inches of usable travel, then I will be in line to buy one.I am not biased at all, I have no brand loyalty, I have sworn never to buy another Ford product until I saw the Raptor, I will be buying one in the next few years unless something better comes along like a VW with 20inches of wheel travel.And the Tundra is a nice highway truck, but it you want a tough truck to be used and abused it is a POS, have you seen truck bed bounce on you tube? I have owned and enjoyed three Toyota 4x4 trucks in the past, they would go almost anywhere as long as it didn't require power like deep snow or deep sand or hill climbs, My F-250 4x4 was way better on fast gravel, towing, load capacity and you didn't have to baby the truck off road because the fords suspension could take more abuse.... The toys were better in deep mud.And when I hear the word Tourag I don't think of off road ability, the tires suck! What are they 31in with like 18in rims? That is a nice suv for hwy driving, but I wouldn't want to take it through the mtns hunting in a foot of snow.