This is one of the most important projects of the national industry in recent years, which entered its final stage before being crowned with the imminent presentation. At its General Pacheco plant, Volkswagen Argentina already produces a new SUV that will appear on the market as an international launch next month and whose official name has just been revealed: Taos.
Known so far as Tarek project, the new model takes several months of development, and involved an investment of 650 million dollars – announced in 2017 – to incorporate the modern MQB modular platform and a new paint plant in the industrial complex of the brand in Pacheco. The Taos, which will be produced in Argentina for the entire regionIt is also manufactured in Mexico and Russia, in addition to China, where it is already marketed under the name Tharu.
“We can finally reveal the name of Project Tarek: our new vehicle will be the Volkswagen Taos,” he declared days ago Thomas Owsianski, CEO of the Volkswagen Group in Argentina. And he expanded on the qualities of the national SUV: “It will reach the markets of Argentina, Brazil and the region in the first half of 2021. It will be manufactured in Argentina for the entire region and will be characterized by high levels of safety, technology and comfort, in addition to a modern design with latest generation propellers and transmissions ”.
El Taos, which will have its first launch on October 13 through a digital platform, will position itself in the Volkswagen catalog in size between the T-Cross and the Tiguan, and will compete against the Jeep Compass, the brand new Ford Territory, Peugeot 3008, Renault Koleos and Chevrolet Equinox, among others. Today, in Argentina the leader in sales in this category is the Jeep product.
In dimensions, the new SUV will measure 4.45 meters long, 1.84 wide, and will have a wheelbase of 2.68 meters. In addition, a trunk capacity of about 455 liters is announced. Although its engines and equipment configurations are not yet confirmed, it is expected to have the Golf 1.4 TSI 150 hp turbo engine, and that it is accompanied by a six-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission. Then they could add the 2.0 TSI of 230 horses, and 4Motion all-wheel drive.
The landing of Project Tarek, now formally Taos, set new horizons for the local Volkswagen plant, which now will have in production a model of the latest generation worldwide, and with global insertion, to accompany the Amarok pickup on the assembly line. Various models can come out of the modern MQB modular platform, such as the Golf, Polo to different Audi, which implies an important modernization for the Pacheco industrial center and lays the foundations for the incorporation of some other model to the line.
For now, the Taos begins to show its silhouette, faithful to the sober and robust style of the German brand, and materializes, despite a withdrawn market and in prolonged crisis, one of the most important projects of the year for the local industry, together with the production of the Peugeot 208 in El Palomar and the departure, shortly, of the new Renault Alaskan pickup from Córboba. The SUV fashion will have then, in the Taos, the strongest bet of a local terminal.
