This research work emphasizes the equations of motion of a ground-based vehicle-manipulator system that constitutes of a spatial six degree of freedom serial manipulator and is modelled considering the dynamic coupling and other effects. Subsequently, a robust double-loop motion control scheme is applied for the end effector trajectory tracking of the vehicle-manipulator system. Simulation experiments based on real-time system parameters are accomplished to elucidate the essence of the recommended control scheme. The outcomes of this work emphasize that the proffered motion control scheme is suited to the similar kinematically redundant robotic systems and is effective even in the existence of unknown external disturbances and system uncertainties. © 2021, The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.