Volkswagen Taos name announced for future compact SUV.
It’s been known for some time that Volkswagen is working on a new compact SUV for North America. Also known, or so we thought, was the name VW was going to stick on its back end: Tarek. This week, Volkswagen announced the future model will get a different name: meet the Volkswagen Taos.
In case you’re wondering, Taos is a small town in New Mexico in the southwestern United States. How small? It counts a mere 6,000 residents. Nonetheless, it’s after that hamlet that the new SUV will be named, surely to help it resonate with the all-important American consumer.
“It was important to choose a name that really embodied the nature of the car and the town of Taos, New Mexico was a perfect fit. It’s a small city that offers big things—from outdoor adventure to arts and design and great cuisine.”
- Hein Schafer, Senior Vice President for Product Marketing and Strategy, Volkswagen of America
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The model will slot into the automaker’s North American lineup beneath the Tiguan. Though nominally still a compact SUV as well, that model get quite a bit larger the last time it was revised recently, so there is actually room in the SUV range for a smaller VW.
As for the styling and design of the Taos, the teaser images released today don’t tell us much. The images are fuzzy and only the general outline is identifiable. More clues as to its future look come from looking at what Volkswagen has done with the rest of its SUV lineup. Among automakers, Volkswagen has not shown itself particularly bold in differentiating between its models, style-wise.
The Taos will get a full reveal this October 13, so we’ll know a lot more soon. Stay tuned.