In the course of the media drive occasion of the new Volkswagen Touareg earlier this week, Volkswagen Passenger Automobiles Malaysia (VPCM) held a Q&A session wherein senior officers fielded questions associated to the automotive and the corporate. Particularly, its managing director Denyu Bostandzhiev shared some fascinating particulars concerning the way forward for the model.
Requested by paultan.org whether or not there might be any new fashions priced under the RM200,000 mark except for the Tiguan Allspace (which begins at RM164,190), Bostanzhiev mentioned: “There might be a automotive [in this price range]. I can’t inform you now when precisely, however I’d say fairly quickly.”
The true juicy half got here in a while, when the corporate boss indicated VPCM’s want to reintroduce a daily (learn: non-GTI or R) Golf someday sooner or later. “We will guarantee you that one thing is going on with the Golf. Everyone’s ready for the traditional Golf. We’re engaged on it. We’d wish to have the total vary of the Golf. We now have been proudly owning the section and we’ll personal the section sooner or later as nicely, it belongs to us.”
You might keep in mind that the present Mk8 Golf was launched right here in commonplace CKD R-Line guise again in July 2022 – after a protracted look ahead to its worth to be authorised – however was pulled from sale after lower than a 12 months. We will presume that it was killed resulting from gradual gross sales, probably resulting from its excessive RM170,560 worth and its lack of driver help package.
A rejigged specification with a lower cost and/or the inclusion of VW’s IQ.Drive security suite may make the enterprise case for the usual Mk8 Golf work, however VPCM would possibly as a substitute be ready for the new Mk8.5 mannequin to deliver the variant again. That automotive has already been comprehensively dominated out for this 12 months, with the Touareg and the special-edition fiftieth anniversary Golf GTI (the latter might be restricted to 50 models, it’s been confirmed) being the corporate’s massive launches for 2024.
However that’s not all – Bostandzhiev additionally confirmed there might be one other new mannequin to assist offset the price of localising the CKD Touareg. The automotive is being regionally assembled in Pekan, Pahang, the primary time that is taking place exterior of VW’s Bratislava plant in Slovakia.
The corporate is simply concentrating on to seize a ten% share of the already tiny premium govt SUV market in Malaysia – a section dominated by the also-CKD BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE. That’s not plenty of quantity for such an enormous funding; the Touareg, let’s not neglect, relies on the MLB Evo platform not shared with different Volkswagen model fashions.
“[We need to] share applied sciences, share investments. I’m not allowed to inform you, however one thing is cooking. There might be a unique mannequin that may seem,” mentioned Bostandzhiev.
The usage of the time period “completely different mannequin” is essential, as a result of it hints that it received’t merely be a variant of the Touareg, which means we’ll must look exterior the VW model. Presently, there are 5 massive SUV fashions constructed on the MLB Evo structure – the Audi Q7 and Q8, Porsche Cayenne, Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus.
The Cayenne is already being constructed right here on the Inokom plant in Kulim, Kedah; we will additionally rule out the Bentayga and the Urus given their exclusivity and market positioning, leaving solely the Audis because the viable choices. This tracks with feedback from Bostandzhiev (who can also be MD of Audi distributor PHS Automotive Malaysia, or PHSAM) earlier this 12 months, wherein he confirmed the model’s plans to assemble vehicles regionally.
Serving to Ingolstadt’s case is the truth that each the Q7 and Q8 might be had with the Touareg’s 340 PS 3.0 litre turbocharged V6 and eight-speed ZF computerized gearbox. Of the 2, the extra sensible Q7 – which lately obtained its second facelift – is the one which makes probably the most sense given it will likely be the quantity vendor, with the additional benefit of seven seats to additional differentiate it from the five-seater Touareg.
GALLERY: Volkswagen Golf Mk8.5
GALLERY: 2024 Audi Q7 facelift
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