European production of the Volkswagen Amarok has been moved to the Hanover factory resulting in lead times being cut by around eight weeks.

Production at the site started in May with the factory set to build 160 models a day, taking three and a half days to complete production per vehicle.

The first right-hand drive car was presented to the RSPCA last week in a special handover meeting at the Hanover factory.

Volkswagen made the decision to move the production from Argentina to reduce the lead times to a more competitive 12-16 weeks.

“We are looking forward to bringing the customers the vehicles quicker now which has been a significant drawback, it was a long process to get the vehicles from Argentina,” said Alex Smith, director, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

The Amarok is available with an 180ps engine accompanied by BlueMotion Technology which has emissions starting from 199g/km, a first for the sector and 10g/km lower than the current 163ps outgoing engine and delivers 37.2 mpg.

The Amarok will also be available in an eight-speed automatic transmission along with the BlueMotion technology which delivers emissions of 211g/km and 35.3mpg.

It’s is not just the Amarok’s environmental credentials that Volkswagen believe will be key, but also the wholelife cost model it presents.

“CO2 is a big part of it, but the wholelife costs are really strong too along with good fuel economy. We think the Amarok is a compelling proposition, the cheapest product in the short-term is not necessarily the cheapest in the long term. I think the Automatic will also be key for us,” said Smith.

Click Here to read the Fleet Van review of the Volkswagen Amarok