- Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles supports lifesaving ‘SeaWatch’ project
- Over 400 lives saved since 2011
- Vehicles equipped with defibrillators
Lisbon/Hanover, 10 July 2019 – Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV) will ensure once again the safety of swimmers on Portugal’s beaches this summer with a fleet of 28 Amaroks. In doing so, VWCV Portugal (importer SIVA) is supporting the ‘SeaWatch’ project of the ‘Instituto de Socorros a Náufragos’ (Portuguese Life Saving Federation).
The Amarok ‘life savers’ will be used on the beaches along the Portuguese coastline and will help find missing people. Tailored to the needs of the rescue service, the vehicles are equipped with special systems for rescue materials, surfboards and spineboards (stretcher for the rescue of injured persons), life jackets as well as flashlights and emergency lights. New this year: every Amarok has a defibrillator (medical device for the treatment of life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias by electrical pulses) on board that can save lives in case of an emergency.
The 258 PS six-cylinder engine (V6) in combination with 4MOTION provides the utmost propulsion in the sand. This is important because, in total, the pick-ups are will be driving close to 300,000 kilometres each year.
As at the beginning of every bathing season, the Amarok fleet was completely replaced in 2019. The brightly decalled vehicles are mainly used on beaches that would be unsupervised. “With this support, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is making a significant contribution to safety on Portugal’s beaches,” says João Carrilho, from SIVA. “The accident rate in the coastal areas of the country is one of the lowest in the world, not least due to the contribution of the Amarok fleet,” Carrilho adds.
Track record
- Since the start of the ‘SeaWatch’ project in 2011, the Amarok have been involved in more than 2,100 missions.
- The project is so well received in Portugal that even users of the computer game “Grand Theft Auto” (GTA) designed and added a ‘SeaWatch Amarok’ into the game.
Guardian of the German North Sea coast
‘Guardian angels’ from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles are also in use on German beaches. Since 2014, there has been a cooperation with the German Life and Rescue Society (Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft (DLRG)). “With our Amarok V6 Comfortline, we are on the one hand driving reliably on the beach and at the same time comfortably on the road,” explains Nils Stauch, Technical Operations Manager at DLRG in St. Peter-Ording.
Further links:
- YouTube impression of the GTA ’SeaWatch Amarok’ here.
- More information about the cooperation with the DLRG here.
- Information about Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Portugal here
About the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand:
“We transport success.” As a stand-alone brand within the Volkswagen Group, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV) is responsible globally for the development, construction and sales of light commercial vehicles, producing the Transporter, Caddy, Crafter and Amarok product lines. In consultation with its customers, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles draws up appropriate vehicle concepts, telematics and logistics solutions for the sparing use of resources at the highest possible level of efficiency. In 2018, the brand sold around 500,000 light commercial vehicles, produced at its sites in Hannover (D), Poznań (PL), Września (PL) and Pacheco (ARG). VWCV employs over 24,000 people globally, thereof approximately 15,000 at the Hannover site.