Hard to believe it’s been 16 years since Volkswagen launched the Amarok, and there still hasn’t been an SUV equivalent. The body-on-frame truck remains on sale in Latin America, but VW has no intention of turning it into a Mercedes G-Class rival. It also seems highly unlikely that the second-gen model will morph into a Land Rover Defender competitor, given how the newer Amarok is essentially a reskinned Ford Ranger.

 

Nevertheless, the VW Group isn’t dismissing the idea of an off-roader. Audi CEO Gernot Döllner told Australian magazine Carsales the company is open to a true 4x4, but only under certain conditions. The top executive in Ingolstadt explained it must make financial sense, effectively ruling out the costly development of a new architecture: