13/07/2010 15:56:18

A recent launch event took me on an away day with one of Germany's leading manufacturers. Austria was the chosen Press Venue to ride and drive Volkswagen's much talked about Amarok pick-up. And although the UK market is unlikely to see this vehicle until as late as the second quarter of next year, it was an excellent opportunity to sample Germanic engineering applied in pick-up form.

It's been some time since VW were last in the marketplace with a 4x4 pick-up and for those who can remember back to 1989, they introduced the 1-tonne Taro which, more or less, was a clone of Toyota's iconic HiLux, yet unfortunately sales were not as strong as had been hoped.

Nevertheless, Volkswagen is renowned for its four-wheel-drive traction systems, so we were all expecting something special, and were not disappointed. Amarok (Arctic Wolf) has a high specification combined with plenty of functionality to produce an impressive 4x4 pick-up that also boasts pleasurable on-road driving characteristics. The only real concern aired was whether the softer suspension variant, which is to be launched in parallel with the main stream Amarok, will be as successful in the UK as its payload is substantially below the 1-tonne VAT threshold.