Volkswagen is launching its new flagship - the third generation Touareg. Equipped with connectivity for the modern era as well as a pioneering fusion of assist, comfort, light and infotainment systems, the allrounder leads the way into the future. The design is also characterised by a special dynamic. With the progressively designed Touareg, Volkswagen offers a model whose “Innovision Cockpit” is already providing the blueprint for the digital interior of tomorrow. The close integration of the assist systems bring a new level of safety and comfort – challenging situations like driving through narrow motorway construction sites are made easier using automatic driving functions if required. In parallel, new running gear systems such as the dynamic roll compensation with electromechanicalally adjustable anti-roll bars provide a level of agility that sets standards in the Touareg segment. As one of the most technically and visually progressive SUVs of its time, the new Volkswagen has the potential to impress drivers of any type of luxury class model with an affinity for technology and design and reach new target groups.
Digitalised cockpit. One of the many technical innovations of the new Touareg generation is the “Innovision Cockpit”. Here the 12.0-inch display of the digital instruments and the 15-inch TFT touchscreen of the top infotainment system “Discover Premium” are merged into a new digital operating, information, communication and entertainment unit that is always on and can be intuitively controlled and fully personalised. The “Innovision Cockpit” has virtually no traditional buttons, switches or controls, but uses them where it makes sense – for intuitive volume control, for example.
Focus on people. Using the “Innovision Cockpit”, the driver can also adjust the assist, driving dynamics and comfort systems to their own taste, thereby personalising their Touareg. This opens up a world where the driver and guests on board no longer adapt to the car but the car adapts to them. The Volkswagen is set up like a smartphone and tailored to your personal needs. This is made possible with a new high level of networked systems and programs – controlled via digital interfaces and the multi-function steering wheel.
Fusion of new assist, driving dynamics and comfort systems. The Touareg launches with the widest range of assist, driving dynamics and comfort systems that has ever been integrated in a Volkswagen. This includes technologies such as “Night Vision” (detects people and animals in the dark using a thermal imaging camera) “Traffic Jam and Roadwork Lane Assist” (partly automated steering and lane departure warning up to 60 km/h, acceleration and braking), “Front Cross Traffic Assist” (responds to cross traffic in front of the Touareg), active all-wheel steering (making the Touareg easy to handle like a compact car), a new roll stabilisation system with electromechanically controlled anti-roll bars, the “IQ.Light – LED Matrix Headlight” (interactive low beam and main beam controlled by means of a camera) and a head-up display projected directly on the windscreen (windshield head-up display). The driver experiences these systems in the new Touareg as one unit. They are simply there - networked via a new central control unit - to operate unobtrusively in the background and to make the trip as safe, comfortable and intuitive as never before.
New dimensions and reduced weight. The third generation Touareg is moderately wider and longer than its predecessor. The new dimensions have a positive effect on the proportions as well as the interior space. An increase in external length leads to a significant increase in the luggage compartment volume, for example, from 697 to 810 litres (with rear seat bench put up). The baggage is protected from prying eyes by an optional electrically retracting and extending luggage compartment cover. Despite the greater length and width, the body manufactured from a mixed construction of aluminium (48 percent) and high-tech steels (52 percent) is 106 kg lighter than its predecessor.
Launch with V6 engines. Volkswagen will initially offer the new Touareg with efficient and superior V6 turbo engines (3.0 litre capacity). An example for Europe: Here there will be two V6 diesel engines with 170 kW / 231 hp and 210 kW / 286 hp (each EU6 AG) as well as a 250 kW / 340 hp V6 petrol engine (EU6 AJ) from autumn. This will be followed by a 4.0 litre V8 turbo diesel engine (EU6 AG) with a power of 310 kW / 421 hp. This range of engines guarantees high trailer weights. In addition a plug-in hybrid drive with a system power of 270 kW / 367 hp is first planned for China. The exact launch date of the Touareg with plug-in hybrid drive in Europe has currently not yet been set. The efficiency of the engines of the new Touareg is shown by the example of the V6 TDI with 286 hp: This has an NEDC consumption of 6.9 l/100 km. Here the economical Touareg V6 TDI SCR 4MOTION – as for all V6 and V8 models of the series – is designed for maximum trailer weights of 3.5 tonnes.
Always a technology carrier. The first Touareg – presented and launched in 2002 – was already a technology carrier. With the advance of this new top model, Volkswagen has developed into one of the leading global full range providers. In the same way as the social trends of the last one and a half years, the positioning of the Touareg that has sold around one million times has changed: an expressive design was and is dominant for all three generations equally. However while an optimum synthesis of comfort and off-road features was decisive for the first generation, these parameters shifted to the highest level of comfort with the presentation of the second generation (2010). In 2018, this high level of comfort is one of the natural features of the Touareg. Compared with its predecessor, the Touareg's comfort features, such as the completely newly developed massage seats, have been improved even more. The third generation is pursuing new focal points for the future with the digitalised world of the “Innovision Cockpit”, maximum connectivity as well as the fusion of hardware and software of a variety of systems that increasingly enable partly automated driving and significantly increase dynamics – without compromising on comfort.
Towing vehicles for active people. Around 60 percent of all Touareg owners in Germany and 40 percent in Europe also use their Volkswagen as a towing vehicle – remarkably high figures. The SUV is generally also often driven by active people who attach importance to maximum safety, the highest level of seat comfort and intuitive operability. Optimum connectivity and high-end infotainment are also a focal point for owners. Fact: in all the main Touareg markets – China, Western Europe and Russia – an above-average number of drivers have their own companies or are self-employed and have a high affinity for technology. Nevertheless there are demographic differences: in China, Touareg owners are on average 41 years old, in Russia 43 years old and in Western Europe 55 years old. Accordingly, the proportion of Touareg drivers with young children in China (65 percent) and Russia (47 percent) is higher than in Europe (31 percent).
Volkswagen's SUV offensive. The 2018 Touareg is another milestone of the largest product offensive in Volkswagen’s brand history. Here the SUV range is also extensively enhanced. It consists of the new T-Roc, the Tiguan, the new Tiguan Allspace (Europe) or Tiguan L (China), the new Atlas (USA) and the new sister model Teramont (China) as well as the completely redesigned Touareg as the top model of the Volkswagen SUVs. At the other end of the SUV spectrum – below the T-Roc – Volkswagen is also further expanding its range with the small T-Cross. A local, completely zero emission model as part of the SUV offensive has already been decided upon - the I.D. CROZZ – the first fully electric SUV from Volkswagen. It will be launched in 2020.