The new Volkswagen Amarok is built by Ford in South Africa. But does it count as a VW export or a Ford export? The answer isn’t quite as simple as you might think…
When combing through South Africa’s new-vehicle sales figures for May 2023, we noticed no number was listed in the “exports” column for the new Volkswagen Amarok. Of course, as part of a wide-ranging global alliance, Ford builds the 2nd-generation Amarok (alongside the Ranger) on behalf of VW at the Silverton factory here in South Africa.
In fact, Silverton is the only facility in the world currently producing the new Amarok, which has already launched in overseas markets such as Australia, where 645 examples were sold last month. So, where do these export units fall if not under VW’s tally (after all, the Wolfsburg-based firm ships Kariega-built Polo hatchbacks to nearly 40 different countries around the globe)?
Well, we asked VW Group South Africa for comment, but the German firm’s local division told us Ford is “responsible for the exports”, adding the Blue Oval brand is “best placed to comment on the export arrangement of the new Amarok to international markets”.
Logic might suggest Amarok exports would thus be included with those of the closely related Ranger, which is shipped off to more than 100 markets around the world, but it’s seemingly not quite that simple. So, we approached Ford to clarify. Though the Dearborn-based firm’s local division was at first reluctant to comment on what it termed a “VW-related” matter, it eventually told us its May 2023 Ranger export figure of 6 274 units as reported to Naamsa was “Ford only” and thus didn’t include any Amarok units (and even double-checked with its logistics department when we asked again).
So, where are these Amarok units located in the figures? In a bid to find out, we next got in touch with Lightstone Auto, the company that runs the platform for the delivery of Naamsa’s new-vehicle sales statistics, including exports of new vehicles from South Africa. Lightstone told us though VWSA obviously receives its local Amarok stock from the Silverton plant, the German company’s local division is “not affiliated to the export programme of Ford Motor Company SA”. Contrary to Ford’s stance, Lightstone suggested it was safe to assume Amarok exports were thus “reflected in the new-generation Ranger export units”.
This prompted us to go back to VWSA, which informed us the partnership with Ford is “managed by our Commercial Vehicles colleagues in Hanover [Germany]”, adding Volkswagen SA is “not privy to the partnership agreement between the two companies” and “therefore cannot comment on the export arrangements out of Silverton”. That said, VWSA proposed sending a few of our questions to VW Commercial Vehicles’ communications department in Hanover, an offer we gladly accepted.
VW Commercial Vehicles confirmed to us production of the new Amarok had commenced on 19 September 2022, with “several thousand” units (it opted not to provide an exact number) having already reached a number of countries. It added the new Amarok will eventually be sold in “over 70 markets globally”, with the biggest export markets expected to be Australia and “all EU countries” (such as Germany, the UK, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal).
Asked whether Ford is responsible for the entire export process, from start to finish, VW Commercial Vehicles’ communication team in Germany explained the agreement as follows: “Depending on [the] export market, there are specific regulations of utilising logistic synergies and legal requirements. In short, different export markets, different agreements”.
Though the brand says it “cannot comment” on whether export credits – also known as duty credits, with which local manufacturers can more cost-effectively import other models not built in the South Africa – go to Volkswagen or Ford in the case of the locally built Amarok, it did finally confirm “exported Amaroks are technically classified as Ford exports”. Again, though, this seems to be at odds with Ford’s insistence its Ranger export figure contains no Amarok units.
Ultimately, however, neither VW nor Ford was able to provide an Amarok export figure for May 2023, which we find utterly bizarre considering such numbers are freely available for virtually every vehicle (bar the BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, for which Naamsa provides estimates) manufactured in South Africa. And, of course, this brings us neatly back to our original, still-answered question: where are Amarok export figures listed in the official Naamsa document?
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