It’s human nature to love what we can’t have, which mostly explains why so many grey market cars end up in the United States. We’ve seen this result in tragedy as the feds crush illegally imported cars, and they’re usually not cheap. Other times, it works out in a roundabout way where new-ish vehicles that were never sold here get driven under the nose of authorities. Right now, it’s hard to say which is the case with this 2017 VW Amarok pickup that’s for sale with a clean Michigan title.
Garage Kept Motors in Grand Rapids has the turbodiesel pickup listed at $44,900. We, of course, never got the Amarok in the United States, which is a real shame. This one even has a six-speed manual transmission to go along with four-wheel drive, so it’s basically the midsize pickup everyone wishes Ford and Chevy would sell in the States.
For what it’s worth, you can still buy a Toyota Tacoma and a Jeep Gladiator here with a stick-shift, just not combined with a diesel.
The truck was brought north from Mexico, according to the sale ad, and it’s got just under 30,000 miles on the odometer. When I reached out to Garage Kept Motors for details on the import process, the owner said it’s been registered as a farm truck. That may or may not be possible in other states, especially those with strict emissions testing, but that’s the loophole they used to get it here.
A handful of mods have been added, from Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac all-terrains to an APR Stage 1 ECU tune. There’s even an Alpine head unit with JL Audio speakers and subwoofers so you can be the first person to ever blast country and bluegrass in a VW Amarok.
The listing doesn’t elaborate much on the registration process, though the VIN is included. A quick Google search only turns up other for-sale ads of the Amarok, so there’s at least no public bounty on it that I can see. Only kidding!
While the Amarok doesn’t pack many performance advantages over domestically available midsize trucks, the cool factor is through the roof. Ask any practical pickup fan what they want to daily drive and most will tell you a standard-shift turbodiesel that gets great mileage and still has plenty of power to work with. If it were sold here, I reckon the only thing that would wave traditional buyers off would be the VW badge.
Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com