Still, there is an albeit smaller market to do some business in, and the interesting thing is that from a standing start in just six months, the Amarok became segment leader in Ireland.
A recent encounter with two new variants in a real-world 4x4 environment of southern Spain gave me an insight into why this workhorse is causing the makers of the traditional market leaders some headaches.
Some figures first. The double cab version has so far been the only model available, although I drove last week a single-cab one which will be available here at a future date if there seems to be any demand. But the load space in the double-cab is the largest in the class, with 2.52 sq m and the ability to take a Euro-pallet sideways.
The cab area is also the largest in class, and the Amarok is a true 5-seater with the kind of space you need to keep a crew comfortable in rough driving conditions.
Safety features are top class, standard ESP with a trailer stabilisation system. A bunch of airbags, including head and chest units that aren't always available in the segment. A hill-start assistant which takes care of any anxiety about getting stuck half-way up an incline.
Across the range there are choices of transmission, permanent 4WD and switchable 4WD, the former recognisable by a black '4' in the car's badging. One with a red '4' marks the switchable version, and there's also a 2WD variant designed for tarmac use by those who need the pickup configuration but not the offroad cabability.
While a manual 6-speed is the standard gearbox, one reason I went to Spain was to try the new automatic version of the vehicle. Now, this might seem to be a bit of gilding a dusty lily, but the truth is there are viable reasons why the auto might be considered. Not least of these is the fact that it is more fuel-efficient than the manual equivalent. Any how could it be that, you wonder? Well, simply because it is the first 8-speed autobox ever offered in the segment, and it is is a truly state-of-art piece of engineering.
When the automatic option becomes available here from around the middle of summer, it will come attached to a 180hp version of the engine only. There aren't official prices for the option at the moment, but if it comes in at around €2,500 it would make a lot of sense to potential buyers.
I drove the automatic up from Malaga to the off-road site up beyond Ronda, in some of the most beautiful scenery in Spain. It was a dramatic backdrop to a really pleasant road driving experience. The autobox shifted swiftly and seamlessly as needed, and when I preferred to hold it in a gear to negotiate the twistier bits of the drive, it required little more than a thought to switch between modes.
As a road car, the Amarok is a far cry from what vehicles in this class used to be. No more suspension shock, no more rocking and rolling on the slightest camber charge. And with the ESP, no concerns about a stab at the brakes spinning you around to face where you had come from.
But it was in the wild that the car showed its real tough guy side. We didn't have rain on the offroad drives, so no mud. But the dust on the dry dirt roads provided a 'slippy' factor that was not far off as if we were driving (and walking) on ice. So pushing the nose up a 45deg incline turned out to be a real handy matter. And going down what seemed sheer cliff paths from a top perspective was also a doddle, thanks to the hill-start electronics that will also regulate downhill speed without the need for the operator to touch either brakes or accelerator.
Time flies when you're having fun, and the day spent in those hills above Ronda went by very quickly indeed. As well as the Amarok I had a Crafter 4x4 Van to play with, but that's a story for another buyer group.
At the moment all Amaroks here are built in Argentina, but from mid-summer they'll roll out of the Volkswagen factory in Hanover, which will make options and specifications selection a little more fluid.
And if the segment is at the moment something of a niche, well things do go in circles, especially recessions, and Volkswagen is well placed with this one to pick up on any pickup that comes in the pickup market. If you get my drift down this particularly rocky road.
