The second-generation Volkswagen Amarok got off to a bit of a slow start, hindered by supply issues, but it’s turning over a new leaf.
Volkswagen expects supply issues out of the South African plant to be resolved during the first quarter of 2024.
The company sold 1024 Amaroks in October, which it said was the best October result ever in Australia for the nameplate.
It expects to have logged 1300 deliveries in November, with another 1200 this month, and expects monthly results to be in this ballpark moving forward.
“I think you’ll see these are the sorts of volumes that we’ll start to see more consistently month in month out, as the production out of South Africa starts to be a lot more consistent and we’re very much looking forward to that next year,” said Ryan Davies, director of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles in Australia.
Including these projected sales for November and December, Volkswagen will record over 6500 Amarok sales from May onwards, when the current model launched.
That’s lower than the 8000 sales it projected at launch, but there’s been stronger demand for the priciest Amarok models.
The turbo-diesel V6, in classic Amarok fashion, is accounting for the lion’s share of sales with a take rate of 70 per cent.
The mid-range Style, which is available with both turbo-diesel four-cylinder and turbo-diesel V6 power, is the most popular Amarok trim level, accounting for 52 per cent of sales.
That puts it ahead of the Aventura (16 per cent), Life (15 per cent), and PanAmericana (11 per cent), with the base Core bringing up the rear (just 7 per cent of total sales).
Volkswagen says the Core, Life and Style can all be found in stock, while the pricier PanAmericana and Aventura are supply-constrained. It says waiting times vary by dealer.
With 4872 sales to the end of October – which includes examples of the previous-generation model and is up 43 per cent on the same period last year – the Amarok is still behind the Nissan Navara (6009 sales, down 23.7 per cent) if showing a stronger trajectory.
The cheaper Chinese GWM Ute and LDV T60 have overtaken the Amarok, as has the larger and more expensive Ram 1500, but it outsells the SsangYong Musso.
