It’s no secret that getting your hands on a new car these days is a long process, made even harder by the popularity of workhorses like the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger which are always in high demand.
But what if you didn’t want to wait up to 12 months for a brand-new Ford Ranger?
Speaking to CarsGuide, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles director Ryan Davies said the brand’s new-generation Amarok, due to launch locally in April next year, could arrive with freer supply once the initial launch phase ends.
“I think supply is going to be a challenge for at least the next six months, if not all of next year. And I don’t know if that’s any different for any manufacturer globally,” he said.
“But we do take comfort in the fact that we will be the number one global market for Amarok, so that itself gives us an amount of leverage with the factory to be able to have high demand on prioritising production.
“We’re confident that we’re going to be able to maintain a healthy level of production throughout next year, whether it’s really as much as we want? I guess we’ll have to see at the end of the year.”
While the mechanically similar Ford Ranger is produced in Thailand, as are the rest of the popular utes in Australia like the Toyota HiLux, Mitsubishi Triton, Isuzu D-Max, Mazda BT-50 and Nissan Navara, Volkswagen will source its new Amarok from South Africa.
This, according to Mr Davies, will aid in Volkswagen bringing more Amaroks to Australian showrooms sooner.
“What we’ll also get is a faster supply chain because the car will be coming from South Africa, so that in itself will help us deliver cars to market quicker,” he said.
At the time of writing, Ford Australia has been open about wait times for its popular new-generation Ranger – which shares many mechanical components with the VW Amarok.
In the latest update, Ford Australia said the Wildtrak V6 and Raptor flagship currently has a 12-month wait time, while the Sport V6 and XLT incurs a four-month wait period.
The rest of the line-up, including XL, XLS, Wildtrak 2.0, XLT 2.0 and Sport 2.0 do not currently have a wait time.
This means customers might be able to get their hands on a V6-powered Amarok sooner than a V6-powered Ranger, but expect production slots to quickly sell out when VW announces pricing for its hotly-anticipated ute as the April 2023 launch edges closer.
And while Volkswagen and Walkinshaw have all but officially confirmed their W-series partnership of flagship Amarok utes will continue into the next-generation, Mr Davies was quick to point out that development of the new Ranger Raptor rival will not come at the expense of customer cars.
“In terms of if we do proceed down the path of another product like a Walkinshaw with the new Amarok, we have to be sensible about how we approach that and quarantine production and making sure we can fulfill that program,” he said.
“Otherwise, you’ve got a product that stops and starts, and you that will never lead to success – you’ve got to protect the integrity of the program from day one.”
The Walkinshaw-tuned Amarok is not expected to surface for at least another 18 months after the arrival of the new pick-up, as testing and validation will then need to be carried out.
Keyword: Could you get into a 2023 Volkswagen Amarok sooner than a new Ford Ranger?