Two new variants of the new Volkswagen Amarok will be shown publicly for the first time at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show, and thankfully they will reside at the higher end of the spectrum, which makes for a more impressive unveil.
Called the Aventura Exclusive and Aventura Dark Label, which immediately gives you a sense of which of the pair each name belongs to, it expands the truck’s range to include more emphasis toward the lifestyle buyer.
Starting with the Dark Label, there’s naturally more black touches added throughout the exterior, lending a more imposing presence on the road without resorting to theatrics. It’s all quite subtle with a unique Iridium Grey Matte body, matched to darkened side mirrors, smoke chrome grille inserts, door handles in matte black, dark sill pipes, and new special edition wheels finished in an anthracite shade.
The Aventura Exclusive, on the hand, takes something of an opposite approach; its Tumeric Yellow Metallic paint immediately bringing to mind the sporty debut colour on the Arteon five-door coupe. Other additions include a new grille and rear bumper treatment, and yet more chrome on the bars that run along the cargo bed and wheels. There’s also a full leather interior that’s accented by contrast stitching in that same striking yellow.
Parallels are evident between the the Aventura Exclusive and the newly revealed Mercedes-Benz X-Class, and perceived as VW’s attempt at shoring up its defences for the arrival of new contender. They’ve also added some ‘luxury’ touches to this effect, such as 14-way adjustable seats, rearview camera, leather-wrapped steering wheel, satellite navigation, and a black headliner.
While the Dark Label is pretty much an unchanged Amarok of 2017 with lights dimmed, the Aventura Exclusive is purported to have had some tweaks done on the powertrain front. Volkswagen hasn’t disclosed many details yet, but it will have ‘more torque’ (over 550Nm) along with a power lift to 190kW from its 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel.
We do hope that Volkswagen doesn’t just string us along with very plausible new additions to the Amarok’s family portrait, and doubly so that they would release it wide across all the markets they currently sell it. Ahem.
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