Golly, I'm surprised they've got there given the total apathy the model has generated in their disinterested dealerships over the past 10 years!
When the Touareg was launched 17 years ago there was a lot of enthusiasm with the car only being sold through selected dealers alongside the Phaeton and it seemed to have a good future.
That all changed with the recession and since then dealers have had to take the model whether they wanted the cars or not, and the only way the car has really sold is by offering huge discounts or low, monthly, contract hire/lease payments.
The pinnacle of the Touareg production was undoubtedly the Generation 1 T2 after which the decontenting became silly.
The VW hierarchy just didn't understand what they had achieved with the Touareg in terms of its capabilities and nor did they understand the markets they were selling in to - and they still dont!
The Touareg is a niche, luxury 4x4 being sold by a mid-range mass market brand and, as a result, VW has missed out on taking a big chunk of Range Rover sales
The latest Generation 3 T5 is plain fugly with way too much chrome but bling works for some folk so the model staggers on even though the dealers would prefer not to have it on their forecourts.
All.of which is a great shame after such a promising start. There certainly won't be a Touareg 2,000,000!
The VW hierarchy just didn't understand what they had achieved with the Touareg in terms of its capabilities and nor did they understand the markets they were selling in to - and they still dont!
I'm not sure I agree with that... VAG is an organisation that I think has made relative success out of the "niche market". Over the years they have produced quite a number of niche models that have enjoyed success in their way - certainly by general standards, if not by VW standards - in this i mean compared with many other manufacturers who have also developed niche models only to have them literally forgotten.
Vehicles like the T3 syncro, the Scirrocco, Corrado, the Audi S1, the A8/S8, the RS6, the allroad, the Caravelle, our beloved Touaregs - all these vehicles have sold with general success considering how specialized many of them are. Certainly all have a distinct enthusiast following which is not insignificant.
In some ways, VW have mastered the art of making vehicles that appeal to very specific customers generally successful.
I came back to this thread to add that the Touareg should perhaps have been an Audi but you kind of beat me to it with your nice list of speciality cars that the more upmarket Audi dealers have enjoyed success with.
I'd go further and stand by previous posts I've made on the Touareg''s market positioning where I think both it and the Phaeton could have been sold as the entry models to the Bentley marque with a nice price premium for VAG to enjoy!
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