Volkswagen Amaroks Turn into Demolition Crew

In order to promote the launch of he new Amarok pickup in the United Kingdom, Volkswagen chose to use four of the workhorses to bring down a 140 tonne steel chimney in Reading. The feat looks really impressive on tape and demonstrates the vehicle’s impressive pulling power.

Though the video provided by Volkswagen is less than a minute long, the actual preparation took month of hard work. The chimney would normally have been demolished using a 40 tonne excavator, but a series of tests were developed to challenge the power and traction delivered by the Amarok.

Four lengths 200 meter long rope were rigged to the top of the chimney and attached to the towbars of four standard Amarok pick-ups, each with Volkswagen’s latest four-cylinder, 2.0-liter TDI engine producing 161 hp of power. For this demonstration they were fitted with a ‘quick release’ safely mechanism for the towing ropes, ensuring the safety of the stunt drivers in the unlikely case that the tower fell the other way, pulling them in all back.

“The new Amarok is packed with power and intelligence, and we wanted to achieve something extraordinary to demonstrate this for its launch.  Working with the right experts and taking a scientific approach, by demolishing a 67 metre steel chimney we’ve shown the maximum strength and power of the Amarok,” said Simon Elliott, Director, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

“EDS has a reputation for taking on highly complex demolition projects that really test our engineering abilities, so we were thrilled to work with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles to see if the new Amarok could bring down such a vast structure. Thankfully our combined skills were up to the challenge!” said Eldon Stevens from worldwide decommissioning experts EDS.