In 2018, Touareg sales dropped to 939 units, its lowest point since the 374 units recorded in 2010 and the first time below 1000 units since the launch year of the second-generation version in 2011, when it recorded 963 new registrations.

Speaking to GoAuto at the launch of the all-new Touareg in Tasmania last week, VGA product marketing manager Jeff Shafer said the company would aim for a return to four-digit annual sales with a full year on the market.

“Touareg is always a smallish volume sitting at the end of the market,” he said. “We’d like to see reasonable sales from next year.

“It will probably be just over 1000 sales, maybe more. It will be four figures.”

Through the first four months of this year, the model changeover has seen sales plummet to 105 units as at the end of April – a 75.3 per cent skid over the 425 sold during the same period in 2018 – meaning 1000 sales is unlikely to be achieved in 2019.

The best yearly sales performance for the Touareg came in 2015, when it registered 2568 sales on the back of a mid-life refresh in February that year.

Over the past decade, annual Touareg sales have tracked around 1500-2000 units per year, with an average of 1708 sales per year over the lifecycle of the second-generation model.

With a move upmarket in the new generation to better compete with segment leaders such as the BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE, Mr Shafer predicted that the Touareg would be unlikely to match the sales performance of its predecessor.

“It’s moving a bit upmarket, and it can certainly build over time,” he said.

New dawn: Volkswagen is not expecting its all-new Touareg large SUV to match the sales of the previous version.

“We’re still finalising the full range and the price points there, and the new car will be a bit more expensive than the outgoing model, but bringing a lot more to the table in terms of the driver assistance technology, bigger, stronger engine across the range, so we’ll see how volume grows over time but I think we’re comfortable at that (1000 per year) level.”

The 190TDI Launch Edition is expected to be replaced by two full-time 190TDI variants towards the end of the year, while additional states of tune such as a 170TDI and 210TDI offering could broaden the appeal and choice of the Touareg range.

The new Touareg is built on Volkswagen Group’s MLB platform that underpins such vehicles as the Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne, Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus, and brings an added level of luxury and refinement that places it squarely in the middle of the premium large SUV segment, where it was previously pitched as an entry point to the segment.

With the initial launch edition priced at $89,990 plus on-roads, the Touareg competes with other, slightly more expensive offerings such as the BMW X5 30d ($112,990), Mercedes-Benz GLE350d ($110,300), Land Rover Discovery SD4 HSE ($99,750), Volvo XC90 Momentum ($93,900) and Audi Q7 3.0 TDI 200kW ($106,900).

The range previously opened at $68,990 plus on-roads for the 150TDI, and while a more affordable variant will likely arrive in time, the absence of a contender in the low end of the segment could open the door for the likes of the Lexus RX to increase its sales, which starts at $73,880 for the RX300 Luxury 2WD and tops out at $110,240 for the RX450hL Sports Luxury AWD.

Based on last year’s VFACTS figures, recording just over 1000 sales would have the Touareg going head-to-head with the XC90 (1170) and Cayenne (1084), which finished seventh and eighth respectively in the segment.

In 2018, the X5 retained its stranglehold on the segment with an even 2700 sales and 15.7 per cent segment share, leading the Range Rover Sport (2258), Lexus RX (2051) and GLE (1939).

During its record year in 2015, the Touareg finished in fourth position, trailing the X5 (4181), Discovery (2915) and Range Rover Sport (2861), but trumping the likes of the Mercedes M-Class/GLE (2559), Audi Q7 (2045), Lexus RX (1673) and Porsche Cayenne (1263).

Based on last year’s sales figures, 1000 registrations would place the Touareg 10th for overall Volkswagen sales, behind the Golf (19,076), Tiguan (9146), Amarok 4×4 (9059), Polo (5433), Tiguan Allspace (2454), Transporter (2095), Caddy Van (1974), Passat (1804) and Multivan (1095).

With overall VW sales falling 10.4 per cent so far this year, the new Touareg should help the German brand claw back some lost ground in a new-vehicle market that has dropped 8.1 per cent over the same period last year.

By Robbie Wallis