The 2017 model year will be the last for the Volkswagen Touareg in the United States.
The mid-size SUV is in its second generation and while a redesigned model is just around the corner, we won’t see it here. The information was first reported by MotorTrend.
Instead, VW will fill the gap left by the departing Touareg with the much more affordable Tiguan. We get a stretched version of the Tiguan as standard in the U.S. for 2018, and at 185.2 inches in length it’s close to matching the 189-inch size of the Touareg.
Similarly, VW will soon add a compact SUV to its U.S. lineup to fill the gap left by the expanding Tiguan. At the other end of the size spectrum, VW is offering its 198.3-inch Atlas.
The Touareg has always been a bit of an oddity in VW’s lineup. It was positioned like a luxury offering, with the 2017 model’s $50,405 starting price coming in higher than that of the related Audi Q7. The strategy didn’t work as VW sold just 1,630 Touaregs in the first six months of the year.
In comparison, the 2018 Tiguan starts at $26,245 while the 2018 Atlas is priced from $31,425.
VW won’t completely give up on targeting aspirational buyers with near-premium models, however. The svelte-looking Arteon is due here next year. It will replace the aging CC, whose name it may adopt for our market.
