The Arctic-ready VW Amarok has its own coffee maker

Here’s your fact of the day: it wasn’t until 1987 – just 32 years ago – that a team of human being first walked to the North Pole. Hearty congrats to Canadians Richard Weber and Brent Boddy, who rightly deserve their place in history.

But, as Top Gear proved in 2007, getting across the frozen wastes of the Arctic is considerably easier if you take a car. That’s what Arctic Truck conversions are for. We’ve seen the Arctic Trucks treatment applied to Toyota’s Hilux and the Isuzu D-Max. Now, see what happens when it collides with some German semi-premiumness…

This is the one-off (so far) VW Amarok AT35, as converted by Arctic Trucks to withstand an Arctic winter, nuclear war and zombie apocalypse. All in the same afternoon.

It’s going to earn its keep in Iceland, taking paying customers out across ice, snow and volcanic debris for 4x4 enthusiast driving experiences. The mods aren’t difficult to spot: a 25mm ride height lift, fibreglass wheelarch blisters, and 315mm-wide tyres. It’s all powered by the biggest Amarok engine, namely the 220bhp 3.0-litre turbodiesel V6.

Unlike most modified pick-up trucks, this isn’t all mouth and no waterproof trousers. The company says “the AT35 also retains the standard Amarok’s 45-degree climbing ability, a payload of 1,154kg, Hill Descent Assist and the widest load platform in its class”. Good luck climbing those steep slopes without spilling your coffee, mind. Oh, did we not mention the coffee?

Inside is where the kit list gets going. Included in AT35 spec is, in no particular order, a fire extinguisher, portable generator, cappuccino machine, VHF radio, toolbox, jack and first aid kit with defibrillator. Everything you need to survive Eyjafjallajökull erupting again – but it’d be just as at home on an Etonian school run, we’d wager…

As the Amarok AT35 is strictly just a one-off, there’s no price tag attached. If the Arctic Trucks office telephone starts ringing this afternoon, we’d suspect that might change rapidly.