Custom VW pickup is a watersport wagon

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV) designed the Canyon for participants of ‘freestyle kayaking’ first and foremost.

a design tuned to extreme sports

To that end, the rear load platform has two carbon fibre kayaks mounted to the floor. The boats slot into two padded cut-outs, with special straps provided to hold them securely in place.

Paddles can be fixed securely against the tailgate, with paraphernalia of the typical canoeist, such as helmets, stowed in nets and watertight boxes.

Designers of this special Amarok have also gone to town with some of the pickup truck’s detailing. It is finished in a fetching Baladi Orange paint scheme, and the body is 40mm higher than the standard car thanks to a body lift kit.

With bigger tyres fitted, the Amarok Canyon is in total some 85mm higher, requiring electrically deployable treadplates to make ingress and egress more manageable.

Under the bonnet is mounted a 2.0 TDI bi-turbo engine generating 180PS and 400 Newton metres of torque, and the car is fitted with VW’s switchable 4MOTION all-wheel drive system, ideal for boat-towing duties.

Dr Wolfgang Schreiber of VWCV said: “We are using this extreme concept to illustrate one of the many diverse uses of the Amarok. By tuning its design to an extreme sport, we are bringing the original DNA of the Amarok into focus.”

Extreme sport? Then let’s hope an Amarok for scuba divers is next off the drawing board.