Avatar photo

By Charl Bosch

Motoring Journalist


SVI arms Volkswagen Amarok V6 TDI for the battlefield

Despite appearing similar to a regular Amarok, the added armour has upped the weight by 650 kg.


 

Having applied its armour to the Ford Ranger, local firm SVI Engineering has done the same to the newly introduced 190kW/580Nm version of the Volkswagen Amarok V6 TDI.

Volkswagen

The lack of visible exterior changes makes the Amarok appear no different from the standard model.

Like with the Ranger, the armouring process involves stripping Amarok’s interior completely before adding 650 kg of B6 materials capable of protecting against rifle shots, including the R1 and AK47. The complete transformation is said to take 12 weeks.

RELATED: Things you didn’t know about the bulletproof Ford Ranger

Aside from the materials and replacing the glass with 38 mm of tint, while also adding steel armoured plating, the Amarok’s suspension has undergone a series of revisions to cope with the added mass. The V6 oil-burner, 4Motion all-wheel-drive system and eight-speed Tiptronic gearbox remain unchanged though.

Volkswagen

The fitting of 650 kg of armour does not show inside.

Unrecognisable externally from the conventional Amarok, the conversion, carries a sticker price of R655 000 and excludes the purchase sticker of the vehicle itself, which starts at R921 900 for the Highline and R996 000 for the flagship Extreme.

The armoured protection does however come with a one year/50 000 km warranty.

Read more on these topics

Motoring News Volkswagen(VW)

Access premium news and stories

Access to the top content, vouchers and other member only benefits