Friday, February 12, 2010

Volkswagen Reveals New Touareg and Touareg Hybrib







The Volkswagen Touareg










The new Touareg being unveiled by VW seems to be mediocre at best. Appparently, they simply wanted to affix the "hybrid" moniker to this vehicle.

From Green Car Congress:

Volkswagen staged the world premiere of the all-new Touareg—which is up to 200 kg lighter and up to 20% more fuel efficient than the outgoing model—and the new Touareg Hybrid at the Postpalast in Munich. The new Touareg will offer a range of conventional gasoline and diesel engine options, an eight-speed transmission and, on the majority of models, Stop-Start technology.

The new Touareg Hybrid combines a 3.3-liter supercharged V6 direct injection gasoline engine producing 333 PS (328 hp, 245 kW) and 265 lb-ft (359 N·m) of torque; a hybrid module integrating a 47 PS (46 hp, 35 kW) electric motor and disengagement clutch; and an 8-speed automatic transmission. Total system output is 380 PS (375 hp, 279 kW) and 428 lb-ft (580 N·m) of torque; combined-cycle fuel consumption is 8.2 L/100km (28.7 mpg US), with CO2 emissions of 193 g/km.

The Touareg Hybrid attains a maximum speed of 240 km/h (149 mph) and accelerates to 100 km/h in 6.5 seconds.

Compared to a conventional SUV of the same size and power, the hybrid delivers more than 25% fuel savings in city driving. In combined mode driving, development engineers calculate an average savings of 17%. Essentially, four parameters were exploited to achieve this fuel efficiency on the Touareg Hybrid:

  • E-Motor: All-electric driving (up to 50 km/h / 31 mph) reduces gasoline consumption. In this case, the V6 TSI is not only shut off, but is also disengaged from the 8-speed automatic by a disengagement clutch to avoid drag torque losses.

  • Coasting: As soon as the driver releases the accelerator pedal, the V6 TSI is disengaged from the transmission. This is even possible at higher speeds (up to 160 km/h, 99 mph), i.e. on the freeway as well. The Touareg rolls significantly longer, since drag torque losses are eliminated. When drivers adopt an anticipatory style of driving, this has a direct and positive impact on fuel economy.

  • Regenerative Braking: During braking, the E-Motor recovers kinetic energy, which is then stored in the high-voltage NiMH battery pack.

  • Stop-Start System: The Stop-Start system integrated in the powertrain improves fuel economy, especially in urban areas and stop-and-go traffic.

The hybrid drive replaces the previous V8 gasoline engines in Europe and America and carries on Volkswagen’s downsizing strategy. Consequently, the V10 TDI and W12 engine versions of the previous model are no longer being offered.

The electric motor can operate independently of the combustion engine making the new Touareg a full hybrid. On electric power alone the new Touareg is capable of travelling at speeds of up to 30 mph (48 km/h). Alternatively the electric motor can supplement the V6 engine to provide a useful boost during overtaking manoeuvres and allows the Touareg Hybrid to accelerate from rest to 62 mph in 6.5 seconds before reaching a top speed of 149 mph (240 km/h).

Conventional drive. The entry-level engine and the likely volume seller is a 3.0-liter V6 TDI engine generating 240 PS (237 hp, 177 kW) and 405 lb-ft (549 N·m) of torque with fuel consumption of 7.4 L/100km (32 mpg US) and emitting 195 g/km of CO2.

A new 4.2-liter TDI V8 engine producing 340 PS (335 hp, 250 kW) and 590 lb-ft (800 N·m) of torque sits at the top of the new Touareg range. The new engine consumes 9.1 L/100km (26 mpg US) on the European combined cycle while emitting 239 g/km of CO2.

The 3.6L V6 FSI, a direct injection gasoline engine with 280 PS (276 hp, 206 kW), consumes 9.9 L/100 km (23.8 mpg US)—2.5 liters less than the previous engine version. This combined fuel consumption is equivalent to CO2 emissions of 236 g/km, 60 g/km less than before.

The overall length and wheelbase of the Touareg have each grown by 40 mm to measure 4,758 mm and 2,900 mm respectively. The width of the new Touareg remains as before at 1,928 mm while overall height drops by 20 mm to 1,724 mm.

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