Audi V12-Powered VW Amarok Pickup Is The Definition Of Insanity

Darkside Developments has ambitiously squeezed a V12 engine in a humble first-generation VW Amarok single cab. The UK-based builders specializing in diesel engine has done all the scanning and cutting to fit the massive power unit, which is paired with a manual gearbox from an American sports car.

Specifically, the Amarok is equipped with a 6.0-liter TDI diesel V12, replacing the gasoline 2.0-liter inline-four that came with the pickup when it was imported from Australia. This is not your usual V12-powered sports car setup, but the build should catch people off guard when the hood is popped.

The 12-pot engine was taken from an Audi Q7, deemed hopeless due to the repair costs. The transmission, meanwhile, was from an older Chevrolet Corvette. It's a six-speed Borg-Warner T-56 manual gearbox used by many American performance cars, coupled to the V12 via a twin-plate clutch.

Before the V12 was successfully fitted into the pickup, the team 3D-scanned the engine bay to see if, in the digital realm at least, the swap would be viable. A portion of the firewall and the chassis rail below the engine bay had to be cut to make room. Finally, the engine mounts had to be tweaked to support the engine safely.

The plan is to send power from the V12 to the rear wheels exclusively. As such, the builders could have other things in mind for the project, like maybe going drifting in the single-cab truck. We'll see about that, but we know that the company aims to improve the Amarok's performance while maintaining the robustness of the diesel engine.

While a V12-swapped Amarok sounds unheard of, this isn't the first we've seen V12s getting shoehorned inside a relatively small engine bay. The most bonkers is the V12-powered Subaru Impreza STI, matched with a BMW DCT. If you want to take the craziness up a notch, the 27-liter V12 Rolls-Royce tank engine is squeezed into a Ford Crown Victoria. The closest we've seen to this particular build was a Toyota Hilux hill climb truck in South Africa with a twin-turbo V12 under the hood.