cars news 10: Volkswagen Amarok-Based SUV in the Works, Should it Come to the U.S.?

The Volkswagen Amarok pickup will probably never make it to the U.S., but what about an SUV based on the VW truck? A new report from Australia’s Motoring says an Amarok-based SUV is being strongly considered Down Under, and might even make it to our shores.

The Aussie outlet says VW first alluded to an Amarok-based SUV at the refreshed Amarok’s launch in June. Now, Motoring reports that Volkswagen Group Australia has submitted the business case for an Amarok SUV to the corporate headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany.

“There is some very serious development happening at the moment for an SUV based on Amarok, which will be quite a large passenger vehicle,” Volkswagen Group Australia Commercial Vehicles Director Carlos Santos told Motoring. “It’s not confirmed yet but it’s been going on since the start of Amarok.”

That’s great for Australia, but what does it have to do with the U.S.? Santos says the Amarok SUV would be powered by the same 3.0-liter turbodiesel V-6 offered in the refreshed Amarok, and the decision to go that route is an interesting one.

“The discussion has been reignited because obviously this V-6 engine is able to be sold in the U.S. The 2.0-liter would never get into the ‘States, but the V-6 is the same as the one in the [Porsche] Cayenne and [VW] Touareg and is a well proven engine.”

That’s kind of a weird thing to say considering VW is in hot water for the emissions-cheating devices found on VW Group’s U.S.-spec 3.0-liter turbodiesel V-6 engines. U.S. regulators and Volkswagen recently came to an agreement on how it will settle the scandal for 2.0-liter TDI engines, but the 3.0-liter V-6s have yet to be addressed.

The Amarok SUV will be a seven-passenger, off-road-focused vehicle in Australia, aimed at the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and global Ranger-based Ford Everest, two vehicles not sold here. We’re already getting a seven-passenger crossover based on the CrossBlue concept, which will be built in the U.S. at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tenn., plant, but an Amarok SUV could fill a more rugged Land Cruiser-fighting niche.

Whatever the plan is for the U.S. market, VW Australia seems pretty confident an Amarok SUV will at least make it to Oz.

“We’ve got the volume to justify the investment,” Santos said, referring to the 2,000 buyers lined up for the 300 V-6 Amarok pickups allocated for Australia this year.

Do you think an Amarok-based SUV has a chance of making it stateside? Tell us in the comments below.

Source: Motoring