A fleet of 35 new Volkswagen Amarok pick-ups successfully fulfilled their role as support vehicles to the winning Volkswagen motorsport team and the official organisers, ASO, in the gruelling long-distance Dakar Rally enduring extreme temperatures, altitudes and terrains with no problems at all.

Volkswagen successfully defended the Dakar title with a 1-2-3 finish at this year’s Rally, known as one of the world’s toughest endurance tests. Alongside the successful Race Touaregs, the back-up teams travelling in the Volkswagen Amarok pick-ups completed all 14 legs of the race and reached the end of the rally in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, while only around half the competitors actually made it to the finishing line.

‘The event allowed the Amarok to give a clear demonstration of its abilities and robustness,’ said Dr Wolfgang Schreiber, member of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Board of Management in charge of development. ‘It’s simple,’ he continued, ‘the Amarok is the Volkswagen of Pick-ups.’

The Volkswagen Amarok had no problem mastering the demanding challenges it was subjected to during the 5,600 mile trip from Buenos Aires across the continent to Chile’s Pacific coast and back. The Amarok motored on undeterred by the 50°C heat of Argentina’s Fiambala, by the San Francisco Pass across the Andes in Chile at an altitude of more than 4,700 metres or by the taxing terrain of the Atacama, the driest desert on the planet.

The new Volkswagen Amarok arrives in the UK this September. For more information or to register for email updates, visit www.volkswagenamarok.co.uk.