Volkswagen presents new Routan minivan It's no Hippie van--but Volkswagen's latest attempt to penetrate more deeply into the American market was just unveiled at the Toronto Auto Show. The big new Vee-Dub is called the Routan. It's a minivan built as a joint effort with Chrysler LLC at the American manufacturer's plant in Windsor, Ontario.
Chrysler helps with building and development--though Volkswagen stressed that the Routan is a German product through and through. It will feature design and functional elements characteristic of their other vehicles. Routan features an energetic and lively looking front end with bold features, capping off the front of a body that's over five metres long. That's cargo-van size by German standards, but it does offer North Americans plenty of space for up to 7 passengers and their belongings.The base engine is a 3.8-liter V6 that produces 197 horsepower, mated to a 6-speed automatic. A 253-hp 4.0-liter V6 is also available. The steering and suspension settings are said to be tweaked to european standards.VW is hoping it will be just the right size to be a hit in on our side of the pond. The new model is extensively tailored to our particular marketplace to help VW meet their goal of boosting sales in the USA to 800,000 vehicles by 2018.The Passat CC is also on display, which is a low-roof sedan similar to what the Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class looks like. It gets the same powertrains as the Passat sedan, the 200-hp 2.0T and the 280-hp 3.6-liter V6. The Passat CC will be on sale this fall.The 2009 Jetta TDI also get a price drop even before going on sale. The $25,475 MSRP announced at the Montreal Auto Show last month has been reduced to $24,275, and price drops have been announced across VW's model range, varying from $200 to $5,800.
photo: Volkswagen