In its fourteenth year of life, the first-generation VW Amarok frame pickup will receive an updated exterior and interior design, modern electronics and advanced equipment with safety systems, but its habitat will only be Latin America.
The first generation Amarok debuted in 2010 as a global model, it experienced its first restyling in 2016, the main assembly site for the “first” Amarok was also the VW plant remains in the Argentine city of General Pacheco (part of Greater Buenos Aires).
Last summer, the second-generation Amarok debuted, made as part of the VW-Ford alliance: in fact, the new Amarok is a clone of the current mid-size Ford Ranger pickup truck. The new Amarok is assembled at Ford's South African plant in Silverton (a suburb of Pretoria).
Meanwhile, even before the premiere of the “second” Amarok, it became known that the first-generation pickup truck, which Volkswagen developed entirely independently, was not going to retire, VW bosses allocated money for its modernization, and the other day the Argentine magazine Motor1 published the first unofficial photo of the refreshed Amarok , made either at the General Pacheco plant or at one of VW's Brazilian branches, where the pickup truck is being tested.
VW Amarok first generation after the first restyling 1/3 
VW Amarok first generation after the first restyling 2/3 
VW Amarok first generation after the first restyling 3/3
It is curious that their Argentine colleagues were unable to get a clear answer from VW representatives to the question of why in their country, instead of the new Amarok, there will once again be an updated first-generation pickup truck, and they do not hide their resentment about this. We would venture to suggest that it’s all about costs and feasibility. As a workhorse, the “first” Amarok has proven itself well, customers love it, sales have only been growing recently: according to the BestSellingCarsBlog resource, the VW Amarok is now one of the three most popular new cars in Argentina, after the Fiat Cronos and before the Toyota Hilux, the new Ford Ranger takes fourth place.
In short, why discontinue a successful model and spend money on launching a new one, if everything is already good — you just need to update the design and equipment a little. After the next restyling, the “first” Amarok can easily survive until the next decade, regularly bringing money to VW’s cash register. True, now the “first” Amarok is not a global model, but a purely Latin American one; in other regions the new Amarok “Ford bottling” will be sold.
VW Amarok second generation 2/3 
Second generation VW Amarok 3/3
As can be seen from the title photo (there are no others yet), the “first” Amarok after the next restyling became similar to the “second”, but still has more rounded contours, characteristic of a first-generation pickup truck. New LED lights are expected at the stern, the interior will receive a fully digital instrument panel and a new multimedia system with a large touch screen, there will be more airbags (window curtains will appear), finishing materials and wheel design will be updated.
The technical content, according to Argentine colleagues, will remain the same, that is, the updated pickup truck will be offered with diesel engines: 2.0 liters (140 hp or 180 hp) and 3.0 liter V6 (258 hp .). A pickup truck with a 2.0-liter engine can have rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, the transmission is a 6-speed manual or an 8-speed hydromechanical automatic. Amarok V6 by default has all-wheel drive and automatic transmission.
The official premiere of the updated Latin American Amarok is expected in the coming months.