Skip to main content

Volkswagen’s Touareg Hybrid model won’t return for 2016

The number of hybrids available in the U.S. will drop by one for the 2016 model year, with the discontinuation of Volkswagen’s Touareg Hybrid.

VW announced that it would drop the hybrid version of its biggest SUV in a list of 2016-model-year changes. The rest of the Touareg lineup continues essentially unchanged, having received a facelift for the 2015 model year.

Recommended Videos

The Touareg Hybrid was one of many models that seem to have been created more for profiling purposes than to actually put a dent in fuel consumption. Its powertrain consisted of a 3.0-liter supercharged V6 and eight-speed automatic transmission, teamed with an electric motor and nickel-metal hydride battery pack. Volkswagen’s 4Motion all-wheel drive system was standard.

VW claimed a total system output of 380 horsepower and 428 pound-feet of torque. That’s more than either of the other two powertrains offered in the Touareg, but the hybrid’s EPA-rated 21 mpg combined (20 mpg city, 24 mpg highway) wasn’t very impressive.

At $66,995 (before destination), the Touareg Hybrid also had the highest base price of any model in the 2015 Touareg lineup. That made it even less likely that buyers would realize any savings from choosing the hybrid over a conventional model. The V6 hybrid powertrain also lacked the prestige a nearly-$70k price tag would seem to demand.

Adding an electric motor to a smaller internal-combustion engine is a trick used by some carmakers to boost the output of a powertrain without investing in a totally new, low-volume engine for prestige models. However, more often than not, when consumers hear the word “hybrid,” they seem to want fuel efficiency at least as much as they want power, if not more.

Touareg buyers still get to choose from a 3.6-liter gasoline V6, with 280 hp and 266 lb-ft of torque, or a 3.0-liter turbocharged TDI diesel V6, with 240 hp and 406 lb-ft. At an EPA-rated 23 mpg combined (20 mpg city, 29 mpg highway), the diesel is actually more fuel efficient than the hybrid.

The other models get a handful of changes for 2016, including newly-available electronic aids like adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning with autonomous emergency braking, and lane-departure warning.

Stephen Edelstein
Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…
Bentley Continental GT and GTC Speed get performance boost as plug-in hybrids
Front three quarter view of the new Bentley Continental GT Speed coupe.

A few years ago, Bentley set off on a path to electrification that was paved with plug-in hybrids and added models like the Bentayga Hybrid to its lineup. However, that path was more of a parallel side road, with plug-in hybrids augmenting the lineup rather than replacing traditional gasoline-only models. Now they're heading for the fast lane.

Unveiled Tuesday, the fourth-generation Bentley Continental GT Speed coupe and GTC Speed convertible are the most powerful Bentley road cars ever — and they're plug-in hybrids. These performance models herald a new era for the Continental GT, Bentley's signature vehicle, along with its GTC convertible variant.

Read more
AMD’s gaming revenue is down by 48%, and it won’t get better
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics card.

AMD has made some of the best graphics cards in the last few years, and yet its gaming GPU market still appears to be fairly niche when compared to Nvidia's gigantic share. This sentiment is backed by AMD's most recent earnings call, which revealed that its gaming revenue is down by a staggering 48% year-over-year.

Things have been looking kind of grim ever since rumors started spreading that AMD may be giving up on the high-end portion of the GPU market. There have been whispers that AMD may have had a perfectly viable high-end graphics card that it decided not to launch, instead focusing on the mainstream segment. The earnings call gives some context to these rumors.

Read more
An Apple car won’t be coming in 2026 after all
The Apple logo is displayed at the Apple Store June 17, 2015 on Fifth Avenue in New York City

It feels like rumors about Apple building a car have been swirling forever.

We know that it’s been working on an automobile because of various leaks about the project, as well as news of auto-related hires over the years, but the company has never made any official announcements about the initiative.

Read more