Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid

The VW Touareg Hybrid will be the first to combine two of the hottest fuel-saving technologies: a direct injection and hybrid.

Volkswagen is finally making its first foray into the hybrid market—and it’s starting with the Touareg SUV. The Touareg Hybrid will not be the first hybrid SUV on the market—not by a long shot. (The Ford Escape Hybrid was introduced in 2004.) Yet, the Touareg is a popular vehicle with a good combination of style, size and solid off-road capability—something the other smaller hybrid SUVs can’t claim. The hybrid drivetrain boosts the Touareg’s combined mileage from the teens to the mid-20 mpg range.

At this point, there are no fewer than five Hybrid SUVs competing with the Touareg Hybrid—some of them with well-establish performance and environmental credentials. So what’s newsworthy about the Touareg Hybrid? Two things: legitimate off-road abilities and a unique technology mix under the hood. While Saturn, Ford, Toyota and Lexus use familiar gas-electric combos, VW mated its electric technology with a brand new supercharged and turbocharged (twin-charged) direct injection engine that ups the vehicle’s fuel economy before the 38kW electric motors are called into service.

The combination of direct injection and turbocharging are similar to techniques used to make modern passenger diesels smaller, smoother, more powerful, and cleaner than earlier versions. Now gasoline engines will travel the same path.

VW’s engineers and marketers are proud of the vehicle’s technical achievements and expect those features to attract new buyers. "For Volkswagen’s Touareg Hybrid, we combine the electric drive with a direct gasoline injection engine in our new 3.0 V6 TSI,” said Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, research and development board member. “Therefore the Touareg Hybrid profits from two top technologies. This combination is unique and can't be found among competitors."

Power of Bigger Hybrid SUVs, Benefits of Smaller Ones

What does that mean for consumers looking for a small SUV with decent mileage when the Touareg arrives in 2011? It will have power that dwarfs the smaller, car-based SUVs like the Ford Escape Hybrid, Saturn Vue Green Line and Toyota Highlander. At the same time, the vehicle promises fuel economy in the mid-20s and probably a lot more for careful drivers. (Hypermiling engineers claimed to have coaxed prototypes up to 50 mpg.) While some hybrid purists may continue to gripe about an excess of power, SUV shoppers turn to this type of vehicle with something in mind.

The power and capabilities could make the Touareg an able competitor to some of the larger SUV Hybrids—like those the Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade trio. Consumers can decide between more miles per gallon in the Touareg or more interior space in GM’s full-size two-mode hybrid SUVs.

Volkswagen plans to add a diesel-hybrid version of the Touareg soon after the gas variant is on the market, which will up the ante even further in terms of power and fuel economy. (The company discontinued its non-hybrid diesel V10 Touareg, which was ranked as one of the dirtiest vehicles on the road by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.)

Now for the bad news: Price. The current gas V6 Touareg retails for just below $40,000 while the V8 version tops out at close to $50,000—so the gas hybrid should arrive in the mid- to high-40s. That would put it beyond the Lexus Hybrid 4WD at about $43,000—though it arguably offers more up-to-date technology in its engine and transmission, more power, off-road and towing capability as well as comparable fuel economy. The diesel hybrid—if it ever really arrives—will likely take it into the price territory currently occupied by the bigger GM SUV hybrids.

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