More Chinese Volkswagen news. Volkswagen has registered an SUV with the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Transport: the Talagon. Smaller news relates to the Chinese Passat.
More notable car news from the monthly list of type approvals published by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Transport. Yesterday we pulled out the extended Mercedes-Benz C-class and this time our eye fell on an SUV that the Chinese joint venture FAW-Volkswagen has developed especially for the Chinese market: the Volkswagen Talagon.
Volkswagen Talagon
The Talagon is a 5.15 meter long, 2 meter wide and 1.80 meter high SUV that appears to have room for six passengers. The 2,050 kg behemoth has a wheelbase of 2.98 meters. The wheelbase is the same as that of the Teramont, currently Volkswagens largest SUV in China. However, the Talagon is about ten centimeters longer. In any case, it will come on the market with a 186 hp 2.0 TSI, of which a 220 hp variant is also available.
The aforementioned Volkswagen Teramont is being built in China by another joint venture: SAIC-Volkswagen. The fact that this Talagon shares its wheelbase with that Teramont, raises the suspicion that we are actually dealing with FAW-Volkswagens version of the Teramont.
Passat
There is also Chinese news regarding the Passat. The Chinese version of the D-segmenter is by nature a peculiar model. Although the car looks a lot like the American Passat (NMS) on the outside, it is a completely different model. Where the American Passat, renewed in 2019, was in fact a further development of the type presented in 2011, the new Chinese Passat presented in 2018 is on the MQB platform, just like the European model. We have now surfaced the facelifted version.
Volkswagen Passat
The Chinese Passat built by SAIC-Volkswagen gets a revised rear, completely revised taillights that are now tied together. The car also gets other headlights that optically flow into the grille. The grille itself is also different in shape, the same goes for the bumpers all around.
Relevant for the Dutch market? Absolutely not, but it undoubtedly offers a nice insight into what is happening in the automotive field in China. In addition, the fact that Wolfsburg in China has two joint ventures, which often sell the same models with slightly different coaches, creates additional confusion. Incidentally, Volkswagen is not the only manufacturer to sell its cars through two joint ventures. For example, Honda is pursuing a similar strategy, which also leads to a special doubling in models. For example, the CR-V exists in two versions and Dongfeng-Honda sells this GAC-Honda Glacier, for example, as UR-V. There are also numerous variants of our previous HR-V in China.