Here at CarBuzz we love wounded birds. You know, the cars that went widely unloved in their time, or just never had what it took to stay competitive for lengthy periods.The Kia Stinger and Chevrolet Volt are among the nameplates we wish were still here, but none brings a tear to the eyes of our writers quite like Volkswagen’s flagship SUV, the trailblazing Touareg.
With a $50,000 MSRP in 2017, the Touareg was a lot of money, but fast-forward to today and that amount is just below the national average new car price, and the cost of a well-equipped variant of Mazda’s premium mid-size SUV that nearly picks up where the Touareg left off.
The Touareg Outgrew The Segment It Helped Build
2017 Volkswagen TouaregVolkswagen
A 36.2% inflation rate has elapsed between now and 2017, which puts the Touareg’s $49,495 base MSRP around $68,665 today. Serving as VW’s flagship model, it packed a large punch when it came to features and powertrains. However, by 2017, VW was pulling the plug on it for the US and trimmed the Touareg down to one engine and three trim levels. Despite its do-it-all ambitions, the Touareg’s competitors did the same job for far less money, and VW couldn’t adapt its premier offering without compromising it in other markets.
2017 Volkswagen TouaregVolkswagen
The Jeep Grand Cherokee started at $31,490 with well-equipped models coming in at $39,090. The tip-top Summit began at $51,590, more than a grand more than the Touareg’s base price. Luxury vehicles like the Acura MDX and Infiniti QX60 started $5,000 less than the Touareg, and those came with premium badging and more seats, which left VW in a bind about determining the fate of its misunderstood vehicle.
2004 VW Touareg V10 TDI front three-quarter staticVolkswagen
The Touareg may have utilized the same platform as the Porsche Cayenne and Audi Q7, but that had no meaning to anyone shopping for an SUV in a Volkswagen dealership. The quality and refinement for the segment were unheard of, but its luxury-level price tag was a steep ask for anyone graduating from a Routan or Tiguan, pushing it up into the middle area between mainstream and luxury brands dubbed premium offerings.
The Touareg died because no one believed a VW badge was worth $50,000 – so why are buyers now willingly handing that exact sum to a Mazda dealership?
How Mazda Convinced Buyers To Spend $50,000 Where Volkswagen Couldn’t
2025 Mazda CX-70 Gray Front Angled ViewIan Wright / CarBuzz / Valnet
The CX-90 and CX-70 duo of SUVs are Mazda’s flagship offerings (the latter of which is the same vehicle sans third row) and are priced competitively for today’s market at $39,300 and $42,750, respectively. Option either one according to your taste, and you might see a sticker price similar to what VW was asking for its two-row premium SUV a decade prior.
While 10 years of inflation and market fluctuation separate the Touareg from a Mazda CX-70, more than the obvious is to blame for the CX-70’s success compared to the Touareg’s final years on sale in the US.
Mazda has grown to embody its premium moniker handsomely in 2026, especially with models like the CX-70 and CX-90, which offer genuine luxury at mainstream prices.
An average transaction price around $50,000 doesn’t bode well for consumers, but where brands can capitalize on that is by offering the best value for the price. In other words, building a vehicle that meets buyers’ needs without feeling cheap. Compared to the CX-70 and CX-90’s contemporaries in the $40,000–50,000 market (the Toyota Grand Highlander, Hyundai Palisade, Kia Telluride, and VW Atlas, to name a few), only a few can match the luxury touches incorporated into the Mazda.
2025 Mazda CX-70 PHEV Premium Plus Black/Red Interior Front CabinMazda
In 2017, the Touareg was of the same echelon of premium vehicles wearing its parent company’s nameplate, with the 200 Series Toyota Land Cruiser as the prime example. The Land Cruiser was an $86,000 SUV priced to compete with vehicles far beyond the reach of any other Toyota, but the Touareg had the opposite problem of being too expensive compared to its real competition.
Both of these SUVs could be described as the best vehicles produced for the money, and those who recognized them for the machines they were, regardless of what the badge said, loved them anyway. But the biggest killer wouldn’t be anything rising against the Touareg from another brand. Rather, it would be supplanted from within.
“The Touareg suffered the same fate as the Phaeton. It was too expensive for what customers perceived as the ‘people’s car’. But the Touareg’s rather dull but stylish design hides components shared with cars that were way more expensive. It used the same platform and engines as the Porsche Cayenne and Audi Q7 of the same era. And it also borrowed some switchgear from those models.
“The VW Group was known for building interior components as good as they could be, and using them in lesser models, instead of doing it the other way around like most companies.” – Gerhard Horn, senior CarBuzz editor
Part of the downfall of the Touareg wasn’t just its price point. It was soon to be obsolete within its own showroom after the Atlas was announced. The three-row crossover SUV could haul more people and offer premium features and excellent driving dynamics for the price, which made the Touareg look crude and severely overpriced before being measured against its competition.
The biggest threat to the Touareg from the Atlas, however, wasn’t just its price. It was a one-two punch by its $20k discount and the fact that it was designed and built with the American market in mind.
Practicality And Price Killed The Touareg
2010 – 2014 Volkswagen Touareg – front 3/4 angle Volkswagen
What made the Touareg great wasn’t any of the practical features that sell cars to the masses. It once had a 5.0-liter V10 diesel, to say nothing of the 6.0-liter W12 plucked from the Bentley Continental and VW Phaeton that it could be optioned with in other markets. The Touareg was VW’s first SUV and even served as the basis for two of the VW Group’s most important vehicles for the 2000s. What made it great was what it allowed other brands to do, rather than what it did for itself in the US.
“The big selling point was the price. You got the same sort of performance and luxury as the Q7 and Cayenne, but the Touareg was between $5,000 to $15,000 cheaper than its corporate cousins. You’d think that kind of saving would work in the VW’s favor, but alas. Badge snobbery killed a brilliant car.” – Gerhard Horn, senior CarBuzz editor
Because its intended purpose was to hold the door open for other brands to increase cash flow, the allure of the Touareg didn’t last long. Sales peaked after its first year on sale in the US, with VW selling 18,050 examples in 2005. Ten years later, sales were less than half that at 7,037. By 2016, they were down to 4,223 units. Once the all-new Atlas arrived at dealerships in May 2017, with more seats and a cheaper entry price, it had moved 27,119 units by the end of the year. In 2018, VW sold 59,677 examples, with 81,508 sold the year after that.
The Atlas did what the Touareg wasn’t built to do: appease a wider variety of US consumers, which led to the Touareg’s demise in the US market. The FWD sedan-based underpinnings brought costs down, but the platform lacked the same performance the Touareg offered by virtue of its development. What the Atlas loses out to in today’s market with respect to value and performance is what we’d call an underrated adversary. Mazda’s CX-70 lands itself smack in the middle of the two-row premium crossover segment with a unique powertrain and premium interior, all for mainstream prices.
It’s not quite the spiritual successor to the ill-fated Touareg, but the similarities are striking, from its near-$50,000 sticker for mid-trim models to its mission to provide a luxurious, capable experience. Granted, $50,000 spent on a vehicle today is far from the same amount spent on a vehicle in 2017, but where the CX-70 has the advantage this time around is both inflation and its appeal to American consumers, which is what helped Mazda sell 10,678 units in its first year on sale in 2024 and 13,833 units in 2025.
The CX-70 Is More Like The Touareg Than You Think
2025 Mazda CX-70 front angle in black closeMazda
Engine
Transmission
Power
Torque
Drivetrain
Seating
Max Tow
2017 VW Touareg
3.6-liter V6
8-speed automatic
280 hp
266 lb-ft @ 2,500 rpm
AWD
5
7,716 lbs
2026 Mazda CX-70
3.3-liter turbocharged inline-6
8-speed automatic
280 hp / 340 hp
332 lb-ft @ 2,000 rpm /
369 lb-ft @ 2,000 rpm
AWD
5
3,500 lbs / 5,000 lbs
Set aside the Touareg’s brute character and overbuilt internals that made it a powerhouse abroad, and the CX-70 serves as the modern interpretation of what VW captured with its flagship 10 years ago. The premium interior, class-leading features, and highly competitive towing capacity made for a competent SUV. However, it lacked a competitive price and the ability to fulfill the needs of the American market, which enjoys having more space and seats than they truly need. This was the fatal blow to sales for the Touareg (rather than reliability like many assume) as well as its replacement, the Atlas.
The CX-70 is a premium, straight-six-powered, two-row SUV in a world that wants to be as frugal as possible when new cars cost just over $50,000. But it sells well today for the same price as the Touareg in 2017, thanks to a combination of economic factors and Mazda’s ability to provide a near-luxury experience by adding only what it needs to make it so, rather than padding the spec sheet only to strip it away in base-trim form, as many luxury vehicles do.
Base Trim Engine
3.3L Turbo SKYACTIV-G I6
Base Trim Transmission
8-speed automatic
Base Trim Drivetrain
All-Wheel Drive
Base Trim Horsepower
280 HP @5000 RPM
Base Trim Torque
332 lb.-ft. @ 2000 RPM
Base Trim Fuel Economy (city/highway/combined)
24/28/25 MPG
Infotainment & Features
7.5 /10
Even if the Touareg survived in the US today, it would still have been too expensive to be competitive, and if VW did anything to make it cheaper, it wouldn’t be the Touareg that many idolize.
VW is reshaping its lineup to be in line with Mazda’s premium way of thinking, something it has always done with its cars but never quite to the right tune for this country. Both SUVs will be remembered for their shared aspirations, but only one was able to wear its premium title better, once it was finally in style.
Base Trim Engine
3.6L V6 Gas
Base Trim Transmission
8-Speed Automatic
Base Trim Drivetrain
All-Wheel Drive
Base Trim Horsepower
280 hp
Base Trim Torque
266 lb-ft @ 2500 rpm
Fuel Economy
17/23 MPG
Segment
Midsize SUV
Sources: Mazda, Volkswagen, Good Car Bad Car, Car Figures
