New Touareg to be powered by a V8 turbodiesel unit

KUALA LUMPUR: Diesel emission cheating has done enough harm to Volkswagen’s reputation, and now the automaker wants to move past the whole issue. Not by dodging it as it did initially but by tackling the issue heads on.

The company is doing so by introducing the new Touareg with a V8 turbodiesel powertrain. And this time around, VW is flaunting the units outstanding emission compliance and not its regulations.

The German automaker recently announced the launch of the new line of TDI engines, and the Touareg SUV would be the first one in its TDI era. The all-new Touareg V8 TDI is powered by a 421 PS turbodiesel unit that comes with an exhaust purification system. As a result, this engine exceeds the VWs Euro6 emission standards.

Volkswagen proudly announced that the emission tests to verify the results were done on real-life conditions, i.e., on public roads with actual traffic. No rolling roads this time like done on previous occasions.

Those familiar with the VW dieselgate scandal know that the automaker cheated emission by fitting a defeat device on many TDI engines. The device was more like software that allowed the car to detect when it was being tested for emission and then adjust the engine’s parameters to meet the emission standards temporarily. In real-world conditions, the software won’t engage, thus emitting more NOx than allowed.

Independent parties that tested the VW vehicles discovered the defeat device, thus leading to the dieselgate scandal. As a result, the automaker had to buy-back many non-compliant cars, face several lawsuits, and gave fines worth millions of dollars to many governments.

According to the automaker, the next-generation Touareg V8 TDI is well under the Euro6 limit of 80mg of NOx per km traveled. Several tests done around Germany reveal that Touareg V8 TDI was able to average 14 mg/km thanks to the combination of a large NOx storage unit, an SCR catalytic converter, and a diesel particulate filter.

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