Volkswagen removing Touareg SUV from lineup

Volkswagen officials have talked of an SUV offensive in the U.S., including the Chattanooga-made Atlas, but a report says the company plans to discontinue the Touareg from its 2018 lineup in America.

MotorTrend reported that the tworow, five-seat Touareg is getting axed. It said that instead of competing with mainstream SUVs, the Touareg caters to a more premium audience alongside the Cadillac XT5, Audi Q5, and Lexus RX. For the 2017 model year, the Touareg starts at $50,405.

The company sold just 386 Touareg SUVs in June, and only 1,630 in the first six months of this year, down 26 percent from the first half of 2016, according to VW.

The Touareg, unveiled in the U.S. for the 2004 model year, won MotorTrend’s SUV of the Year Award. It then cited the model for blending car-like qualities with more SUV-like features, including ample cargo space, plenty of ground clearance, and serious four-wheel-drive off-road ability.

This summer, along with the three-row, seven-seat Atlas, VW is offering a new larger Tiguan compact SUV to U.S. buyers.

Jeremy Holsomback, general manager of Village Volkswagen in Chattanooga, said recently that VW has never competed in the three-row SUV market before the Atlas.

“It’s a well-needed vehicle in this segment,” he said. While the Atlas starts at about $30,500, a top-of-the-line Atlas SEL Premium sells for about $49,400 with destination charges.

Also, Volkswagen is looking at assembling a second SUV in its Chattanooga plant.

VW wants to produce a small fiveseat SUV to go with the Atlas, Hinrich Woebcken, head of Volkswagen’s North American operations, told reporters at the New York International Auto Show earlier this year.

While Woebcken declined to say when assembly of the smaller SUV will start, The Wall Street Journal said the VW official described the vehicle as a “brother or family member” of the Atlas.