• Two strong brands continue their collaboration for a further three years
• Amarok V6 remains official vehicle of “The Original Extreme Sport”
• Season starts in 2018 with the Champions Trophy in Marseille, World Championship is end of October in Liverpool

Hannover / Waiblingen, 1 February 2018 – Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is continuing its partnership with ANDREAS STIHL AG & Co. KG, collaborating on the contests of the Stihl TIMBERSPORTS® extreme sports series. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has been supporting the international Stihl TIMBERSPORTS® Champions Trophy and World Championship competitions, plus the national events linked to the Amarok Cup and German Championship since back in 2015. This strong partnership is now being expanded and continued for a further three years. Together both brands reach a sport-loving target group and outdoor professionals.

Stihl TIMBERSPORTS® and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles are continuing their strong cooperation through to the end of 2020: the commercial vehicle brand will continue to promote the extreme sports series, including remaining main sponsor of the Stihl TIMBERSPORTS® Champions Trophy and of Stihl TIMBERSPORTS® in Germany. The series organisers will again be able to use the valuable services of the award-winning Amarok for their sports events, a vehicle that recently won the “International Pick-up Award” and that since 2016 has been equipped with powerful V6 TDI diesel engines.

“We are proud to have Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles at our side for another three years. Over the last few years, the partnership has enabled us to build up the series considerably and to offer our fans and participants even more professional and more thrilling competitions,” says Dr Nikolas Stihl, Chairman of the Advisory Board at STIHL, title sponsor of the extreme sports series.

“Stihl TIMBERSPORTS® thrills sports fans and outdoor professionals around the globe. The brand is thus a perfect fit for our vehicles such as the Volkswagen Amarok, which we make for people who earn their living everyday outdoors or who also spend their leisure time there. What matters here to our customers is, like in this sport, top performance, precision, know-how and stamina”, says Dr Günther Scherelis, Head of Communications at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, delighted by the continued collaboration.

2018 dates

This year the international competition season begins with the Champions Trophy in France. On 26 May, the world’s top twelve TIMBERSPORTS® athletes will come to Marseille. Right next to the impressive MuCEM, the athletes will be competing in the city’s Old Port for one of the sport’s most cherished trophies. This will be followed by the national championships in over 15 countries before it’s off to Liverpool on 19-20 October for the climax to the season, the World Championship.

In Germany the season begins on 2 June with the Amarok Cup in Oelde, followed by the F60 Cup on 21 July in Lichterfeld. The climax to the season is the German Championship, which takes place in August in the Bavarian city of Deggendorf. The results there include determining which athlete will represent Germany at the individual World Championship in Liverpool.

About Stihl TIMBERSPORTS®

Stihl TIMBERSPORTS® is an international series of extreme sports competition.
Its roots are in Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. In the national and international contests of elite sports tree-felling the athletes compete against each other in three axe and three saw disciplines. Springboard, Underhand Chop and Standing Block Chop are the classic axe competitions, while in the Single Buck (cross-cut saw), Stock Saw (standard chainsaw) and Hot Saw (up to 80 PS, tuned chainsaw) disciplines the participants battle for best times using saws. For more details see: www.stihl-timbersports.com

About the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand:

“All around the globe we offer the best transport solutions for our customers.” As a stand-alone brand within the Volkswagen Group, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is globally responsible for the development, construction and sales of light commercial vehicles, producing the Transporter, Caddy, Crafter, and Amarok ranges. 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 2017, the brand sold around 497,900 light commercial vehicles, produced at its sites in Hannover (D), Poznań (PL) and Września (PL). Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles employs over 21,000 people globally.