Walkinshaw builds last Amarok W580

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Walkinshaw Automotive Group (WAG) have produced their final Amarok W580 dual cab ute – for now.

The last unit built on the first-generation Amarok platform is the 2,600th example to come from the collaboration between VW and Walkinshaw that began in 2021. Of that total, 1,555 were built in 2022, with the final example completed at WAG’s Clayton factory on 22 November.

Production numbers by model grade are as follows:

Pilot builds and other – 25

Amarok W580 – 458

Amarok W580S – 1,419

Amarok W580X – 599

Amarok W580SE - 99

Each Walkinshaw W580 variant was based on the Amarok Highline model grade with the 190kW/580Nm 3.0-litre turbo diesel V6; an engine which has proven to be a favourite with the local market, even in non-Walkinshaw form.

“Australians have voted with their wallets to make 90% of Amarok sales the class leading diesel V6 and 20% of Amarok sales a Walkinshaw engineered variant,” said Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles director Ryan Davies.

“This is testimony to both the fundamentals of this first-generation Amarok, which have helped influence and shape the incoming second-generation model, and the great design and engineering of Walkinshaw.

“Having taken what makes this Amarok great and moved it to the next level with the imminent all-new second-generation Amarok, we are enthused to begin talks on what’s next for Volkswagen and Walkinshaw.”

WAG director Ryan Walkinshaw added: “The Walkinshaw Amarok project we undertook with Volkswagen has been a remarkable success over the last two years, a big thank you to Volkswagen for its trust in the Walkinshaw Automotive Group.

“We are looking forward to working closely once again with Volkswagen to see what the future may hold with their second-generation.”

The second-generation Amarok ute was revealed in December and is the result of a development process that included VW designers and engineers spending three years in Australia. The new Amarok is due for Australian release in April.

A successor to the W580 on the Gen2 Amarok is likely, but had not been confirmed by either VW Commercial Vehicles or WAG at time of writing.