Now for the next Volkswagen Amarok Walkinshaw edition

Volkswagen Australia says it is in talks with former Holden Special Vehicles tuning division – the Walkinshaw Automotive Group – about a successor to the hugely popular W580 series based on the original Volkswagen Amarok.

The second-generation, Ford Ranger-based Volkswagen Amarok is due arrive in Australian showrooms from April 2023, where it is expected to become the German brand's biggest selling model locally.

And a Walkinshaw edition of the new-generation Volkswagen Amarok is on the cards.

"We’ve never hidden from the fact that both parties (Volkswagen Australia and Walkinshaw) are interested in continuing with the partnership, but we haven't formalised that yet," said the head of Volkswagen Australia's commercial vehicles division Ryan Davies.

"Our intention would be to evaluate what a new program could look like then get a position on that reasonably quickly. It’s hard to start development until you’ve got cars here.

"The appetite for both parties to continue (with special edition vehicles) is high. And the market is definitely primed for another W Series Amarok. The new model is coming and we’d be mad not to look into it."

When asked if Volkswagen Australia would follow the same successful formula as before – start with a tarmac version before adding an off-road edition at a later date – Mr Davies said: "I can’t say for sure that we would follow the same formula (a tarmac edition followed by an off-road version).

"But what we will do is work with the team here at Walkinshaw to establish what we believe are the (strengths) of the new range and then to decide what is the best path forward.

"There’s a lot of engineering expertise in the Walkinshaw business that we can lean on, to find where the gaps in the ute market might be, and how we might best leverage those opportunities."

When asked if future Walkinshaw versions of the new Volkswagen Amarok might be sold overseas, Mr Davies said: "Whether a program (like this) has transferability to other global markets, it really remains to be seen. I’m not certain that’s something we’re working towards. For the new Amarok we’re really more concerned with what we’re doing in our own backyard."

Ryan Walkinshaw said working with a diverse portfolio of car companies – such as Ram Trucks Australia, General Motors Specialty Vehicles, Volkswagen and Toyota – has future-proofed his engineering and assembly business and kept automotive manufacturing skills alive in Australia after the shutdown of the Ford, Toyota and Holden car assembly lines in 2016 and 2017.

"We are a multi-brand partnership business and we rely on that to create a strong business for our future," said Mr Walkinshaw.

"We found out the hard way not to rely on a relationship with just one automotive partner, because one day they could turn up and say they’re closing down their manufacturing and you need to pivot your business in the next six months.

"Since then (the shutdown of Holden) we’ve grown our business from 20 engineers to nearly 100 engineers, and 250 manufacturing employees to nearly 1500 assembly workers."