Volkswagen has announced the VW Touareg BlueMotion for the UKVW are pushing ahead with their BlueMotion Eco range, and have announced that the VW Touareg BlueMotion is now available in the UK.
Offering improved economy and lower emissions, the Touareg BlueMotion manages to drop in to a lower Co2 band by emitting 219g/km (a reduction from 244g/km on the V6 TDi) and it delivers 34mpg as opposed to 30.4mpg on the V7 TDi.
These improvements have been achieved by the usual ECU tweaking, low rolling resistance tyres, some aerodynamic tweaks and a lower ride height (exactly the same sort of stuff that Ford has done on the EConetic range). And the penalty for the lower emissions and better economy is very slight, with the Touareg BlueMotion still managing the 0-60mph in 8.5 seconds and a top speed of 126mph.
Entry level for the BlueMotion is £34,150 which brings you stuff like cruise control, 17″ alloys and multi-function steering wheel. Stump up £37,545 for the SE version and you get climate control, touchscreen SatNav, bigger alloys and leather trim.
On the face of it this looks a slightly odd move by VW. Yes, all car makers are trying to squeeze lower emissions and better fuel economy out of all their cars – particularly 4x4s – but VW already have a Touareg Hybrid BlueMotion in the pipeline. So why bother with this car? Well, the Hybrid BlueMotion does use the same engine as this Touareg BlueMotion, but it also gets the Hybrid bits that add electric motors. The sum of that shoves the power up to 375bhp and drops the 0-60 time to just 6.6 seconds. True, average mpg drops to 31mpg, but it’s still mighty impressive from such a powerful car.
But of course the Touareg Hybrid BlueMotion will be a thick chunk more than this Touareg BlueMotion. So it makes sense to introduce this car as an entry level Eco model.
Orders are being taken for the Touareg BlueMotion in the UK now, with first customer cars due to be delivered in September.