What's the news?
The Beijing show has been chosen as the place for Volkswagen to reveal its revised Touareg, which has mildly tweaked looks inside and out, new technology and some slight changes to motive power.
Exterior
This is one of those 'look hard, now' overhauls where the devil is all in the detail. Taking the lead from the Golf-esque corporate face on all Volkswagens, the Touareg has larger, bi-Xenon headlights, a deeper radiator grille with four instead of two horizontal slats and a re-profiled bumper. The rear bumper has also been correspondingly redesigned, with a new diffuser between the twin tailpipes and LED fog lights integrated into the lower corners of the car. Some new colours, alloy wheel designs and fresh mirror caps round off the external polishing.
Interior
In terms of interior design, very little has changed - there are extra leather hues, a few new accents and some different lighting, but that's it. However, on the tech front there's a bit more to report. All models will feature an automatic pre-collision braking system and a coasting function on the eight-speed automatic gearbox, which can be overridden if necessary. The optional automatic distance cruise control (ADC) has been enhanced to incorporate a city emergency braking function too, plus it can automatically pull away from standstill in stop-start traffic.
Mechanicals
First up is the news that the V8 diesel and Hybrid Touaregs are gone, never to be seen again in the UK... well, at least not on this generation of car. That leaves you with just two 3.0-litre V6 diesels, the entry version making the same 204hp it always has but the top variant boosted from 245- to 258hp.
Emissions and economy have been improved on both, thanks to low rolling resistance tyres, stop-start functionality, an SCR-DPF catalytic converter with AdBlue and battery regeneration systems, all of which mean the Touareg is EU6 compliant. The 204hp model can achieve 42.8mpg and 174g/km CO2, improved from 40.4mpg and 184g/km, while the 258hp Volkswagen offers 41.5mpg and 178g/km, an enhancement from 39.9mpg and 189g/km.
Anything else?
The revised Touareg is expected to open for ordering in the UK in August, ahead of first deliveries in November.
Matt Robinson - 24 Apr 2014