Volkswagen has made the Taos extra adventurous. The result is this Taos Basecamp Concept, which seems more appropriate next to the road than on it.
Volkswagen presented a new SUV for the American market last fall: the Taos. Do not be fooled by its rougher appearance, because the Taos is in principle a fairly compact model by American standards. It is just as long as ‘our’ Tiguan and also fulfills roughly the role on the local market that the European Tiguan would otherwise have fulfilled. The Americans only know the larger Tiguan, called Tiguan Allspace in Europe, and this Taos has now been moved to the bottom of the range. In fact, the Taos is a Volkswagen Tharu, an MQB-inspired SUV that has been on the market in China for several years now. The Taos is quite similar to its big brother, the Atlas, which is also available in North America, and that probably played a role in the fact that the Americans got the Taos and not our ‘short Tiguan’.
The Taos now follows the example of the Atlas again, as it was shown as Basecamp Concept two years ago. The Taos Basecamp Concept is tackled according to a similar recipe. The car is raised and stands on 17-inch wheels that look like they can take a beating, surrounded by thick Falken all-terrain tires. The Taos also got modified bumpers with slightly larger skid plates. Orange accents and Basecamp logos are also included. On the roof is a large roof rack with spotlights for night-time kilometers through poorly accessible terrain. Volkswagen says it will show the Basecamp Concept, which appears to be in Yoshua Tree National Park in the photos, to the public this weekend at an event in Georgia. Not just for decoration, because you can bet that the Americans will eventually encounter such decoration on the option list of the Taos.