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The VW Touareg Is Coming Back But You Won’t Recognize It
- Volkswagen is bringing back the Touareg SUV as an EV, report claims.
- The ID. Touareg will get VW’s new SSP platform ahead of the ID. Golf.
- Touareg won’t go to the US, and VW’s US-built Scout won’t come to the EU.
Volkswagen has already confirmed that it’s bringing the Polo name back on the artist formerly known as the ID. 2 electric hatch, adding that an ID. Golf, ID. Tiguan and ID. Roc are all in development, though running behind schedule. But now we hear another long-running combustion name is leaping into electric power as the ID. Touareg.
The Touareg, VW’s flagship SUV in Europe, which is scheduled to die next year, has been around for almost 25 years across three generations, each one sharing a platform with the Porsche Cayenne. But while the new Cayenne Electric, set to debut this winter, is based around VW’s PPE platform, which is the same one used in the Macan Electric and Audi A6 and Q6 e-trons, the Touareg isn’t due to arrive until 2029. That delay allows it to leap straight to VW’s upcoming SSP architecture.
Related: VW Is Killing Its Flagship SUV As It Bets On Cheaper Models
Germany’s Automobilwoche reports that the ID. Touareg will, in fact, be the first VW model to benefit from the new platform. That honor was supposed to go to the ID. Roc, the electric counterpart to the combustion T-Roc, but the launch of both that SUV and the ID. Golf has reportedly been pushed back to 2030.
Worries over costs and complications with shifting ICE Golf production from Germany to Mexico, intended to free up space for SSP models, are behind the delay, a report claimed this week.
Rivian Code, VW Badge
SSP-based models, including the ID. Touareg, will feature zonal architecture and software developed by Rivian, as will the Scout SUV that the Volkswagen Group is developing for sale in North America. But the German publication’s sources say Scout-branded EVs won’t come to Europe, and the ID. Touareg won’t be sold in the US.
That decision reflects history as much as strategy. America did get the Touareg during its initial launch in 2003, but pulled it from sale in 2017, effectively replacing it with the locally-built Atlas, which has a third row of seats that the Touareg has always strangely lacked. Volkswagen seems content to keep those roles divided.
