The Touareg being brought in as a CBU witnessed negligible sales for Volkswagen in a segment where Mercedes, Audi and BMW are doing decent numbers every month with their offerings.
Volkswagen India has silently discontinued the Touareg mid-size luxury SUV in the country owing to poor sales. While the German automaker’s compatriot Mercedes, BMW and Audi are doing consistently well in the same segment, the Touareg failed to garner much attention despite being a very capable SUV in the segment. One of the main reasons cited for the low sales has been brand Volkswagen itself. Even though it is positioned as a premium brand, the German automaker does not command the same snob value as a Mercedes or an Audi would with the M-Class or the Q5 respectively.
Brought in as a CBU from Slovakia, the India spec Volkswagen Touareg was powered by the tried and tested 3.0-litre V6 TDI diesel engine that produces a decent 240 BHP of power and an impressive 550 Nm of torque, paired to an 8-speed automatic gearbox. The SUV came with a tank like build quality with impressive levels of comfort and a plethora of features inside the cabin. However, despite all the attention to detail, the SUV’s uninspiring looks and the premium CBU pricing served to be a huge deterrent for the SUV in the Indian market.
With the Touareg no more on sale, the Jetta will now be the most expensive offering from the company. In a recent statement, Volkswagen India stated its concentration will be on new and emerging mass market segments and has a compact SUV and compact sedan lined up for launch over the next two years. The compact sedan is based on the Polo hatchback with the design almost finalised and is expected to hit the market by the end of 2015, while the compact SUV will be launched the following year. With no confirmation yet, Volkswagen could re-launch the Touareg facelift next year, while the 8th generation Passat is more or less confirmed for 2015.
