Will the VW Amarok ever come to the American market? There is no official word on this yet, but several undisguised Amarok pickup trucks were caught testing in Arizona last week.
The “Chicken Tax” of 1963 prevents light trucks made in Europe from being imported into the United States by imposing a 25% tax. Volkswagen Amarok falls under this category and thus have not been able to break into the market among competitively priced Toyota Tacoma, Chevy Colorado, and Nissan Frontier.
The “Chicken Tax” is supposed to go away in the near future, so this is a chance for the Amarok to enter the hotly contested segment. The Amarok features an efficient TDI turbo-diesel and relatively small dimensions. These are attractive traits in the growing mid-size segment.
The 2016 Chevy Colorado will go on-sale later this year with a 2.8-liter turbo-diesel engine. The 2016 Toyota Tacoma has just been fully redesigned. It will not be easy to get market share among this bunch, but the Amarok can do it with a help from a loyal Volkswagen customer base. If it’s priced below the competitors, it can use the name recognition of the efficient TDI badge to sell many trucks.
Thanks to Eric G. for providing these images.
Check out this TFLtruck prototype hunting video of the 2016 Chevy Colorado turbo-diesel from May 2014.
