Europe: Luxury off-road range boosted by addition of Touareg BlueMotion

The Touareg BlueMotion is fitted with a more efficient version of the standard car's 3.0-litre V6 TDI common rail diesel engine which develops 222 HP and 550 Nm of torque, and drives through a six-speed automatic tiptronic gearbox.

As with all models in the Volkswagen range wearing the BlueMotion badge, a number of modifications have been made to improve efficiency. Changes include revised aerodynamics, an optimised engine including a more efficient alternator, low rolling resistance tyres and a ride height lowered by 25 mm to reduce drag.

The Touareg BlueMotion also features a regenerative braking system which is used to charge the battery while the vehicle is in motion, reducing the workload of the engine and cutting fuel consumption further.

All of these revisions help the Touareg BlueMotion to achieve 6.9 liters/100 km on the combined cycle (down from 7.7 liters/100km), and CO2 emissions are cut to just 219 g/km, down from 244 g/km, making it one of the only non-hybrid vehicles in its class to drop below the 225 g/km barrier.

Despite these modifications and significant gains in efficiency, the performance figures for the Touareg BlueMotion are only slightly affected with a 0 to 100 km/h time of 8.5 seconds and a top speed of 203 km/h.

As with all models in the Touareg range, the advanced 4XMOTION all-wheel-drive system linked to an Electronic Differential Lock (EDL), hill start and descent assist, Electronic Stabilisation Programme (ESP) and six airbags are all fitted as standard.

Credits: JRC