Volkswagen Seriously Considered Building A Toyota 4Runner Rival

Volkswagen Seriously Considered Building A Toyota 4Runner Rival

The Amarok pickup would have made a fine SUV.

The head of design at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Albert Kirzinger, has posted an image on LinkedIn showing what might have been if the Amarok pickup had morphed into an SUV. The current Amarok, revealed in 2022, shares its bones with the Ford Ranger, which also forms the basis of the Everest SUV. With that in mind, it’s no wonder that Volkswagen considered creating an SUV from the Amarok; it would have been very easy to expand VW’s SUV range and tackle the segment occupied by the venerable Toyota 4Runner.

The post says little more than that this render was part of the research phase. When asked if this is a hint of a future Everest alternative, Kirzinger’s curt response was simply, “Sorry – but no further hint.”

Volkswagen does not offer anything with similar construction and has no off-road-biased products on sale in the US, so it seems like a missed opportunity for the German automaker. However, it’s worth remembering that Volkswagen will revive the Scout brand imminently, and whatever products are offered here will have more off-road focus than any VW product sold in the US thus far. That being said, Scout will only sell electric vehicles, and if the popularity of such vehicles wanes in the coming years, we won’t put it past Wolfsburg to launch an Everest-based SUV anyway. It’s unlikely, but not impossible.

As attractive as an Amarok SUV might have been, it would have convoluted Volkswagen’s range, and since the automaker doesn’t have much off-roading heritage, perhaps the bean counters decided that such a project would be too risky; over the last 75 years, the brand’s angle has never been brutish.

While a new SUV may not be imminent, we’ll see the updated Volkswagen Golf and its hot Golf GTI sibling later today. These promise improved cabins with more user-friendly controls and an overall improvement in ergonomics. In 2026, even these cars will be powered purely by electricity, potentially creating an opportunity to reopen the Amarok SUV conversation.