Somewhere between Touareg and Tiguan, there’s room for another bizarrely-named SUV in Volkswagen’s lineup. In the company’s quest to achieve juggernaut-levels of 800,000 sales per year in America, it’s realized that it needs a midsize SUV or crossover to compete against the likes of the Ford Explorer and Toyota Highlander, two popular midsizers.
Hence, ”there’s a great opportunity for us for a mid-size SUV in the U.S.,” said Volkswagen of America CEO Jonathan Browning. It would complete Volkswagen’s “core portfolio” in America, and fill in the nearly $20,000 gap in pricing between the Tiguan and the Touareg.
A reliable source within Volkswagen has told us that the SUV will take the form of a seven-passenger crossover, built on the Passat’s platform. And this wouldn’t be a version of the Alltrack concept, which was a slightly ruggedized Passat wagon shown at the New York Auto Show; as the source explains, that car might not make it to America. The new crossover may come with AWD. A seven-passenger crossover would seem like conjecture at this point, but it makes sense, and it would obviate the need for Volkswagen to keep the Chrysler-derived Routan in its lineup.
Volkswagen would not officially comment on these plans, as is typical of automakers. There’s no word on when this new SUV would come to market, or whether it was in development.
Source: Automotive News
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