By  Otsile Kadiege

Last year, Volkswagen unveiled the all-new Tayron. It’s a seven-seater SUV which bears a striking resemblance to its stablemate – the new Tiguan. The all-new Tayron, launching in the SA during the second half of 2025, is positioned between the Touareg and the Tiguan.

Tayron model derivatives

The Tayron will launch with two equipment lines: Life and R-Line. The Tayron Life features on board a three-zone automatic air conditioner, 10-colour background lighting, nine airbags, driving experience control (which adjusts driving profiles), an infotainment system with App-Connect Wireless (for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto). The vehicle also includes digital instruments, LED headlights with automatic main beam control (Light Assist), illuminated Volkswagen logos at the front and rear, and 17-inch alloy wheels.

Standard assist systems include adaptive cruise control (ACC), lane change system (Side Assist), lane keeping system (Lane Assist), an automatic emergency braking system with pedestrian and cyclist monitoring (Front Assist), Park Assist Plus, a rear-view camera system. Additionally, the Tayron comes with a new exit warning system, which can prevent a door from being opened if a vehicle approaches from behind, offering both acoustic and visual warnings.

Tayron R-Line – top version. Above the Life variant there’s the sporty R-Line version. The dynamic Tayron R-Line is characterised by details such as sports comfort seats in Varenna leather with integrated head restraints, extensive use of leather in the dash panel and doors, aluminium-look decorative trim, individual bumpers in an R-Line design and 19-inch alloy wheels. The R-Line is also equipped with LED Plus headlights (including dynamic cornering light), 3D LED tail clusters with dynamic turn signal and 30-colour background lighting including illuminated interior applications in the dash panel and door trim.

Technology highlights – HD headlights. Other optional equipment for the Tayron includes innovative systems such as Volkswagen’s sophisticated IQ.Light HD matrix headlights with interactive lighting functions, a large tilting and sliding panoramic sunroof, a Harman Kardon sound system with a music output of 700 W and a high-quality leather package with electrically adjustable ergoActive Plus seats including massage and ventilation functions. Equipment options include innovative assist systems such as Travel Assist, which provides assisted longitudinal and lateral guidance over the entire speed range.

Powertrains

The Tayron has a variety of internal combustion engines, some electrified with hybrid systems. Volkswagen South Africa is yet to announce our engine lineup but we suspect our market will get the following petrol and diesel engines: turbocharged petrol engines (TSI evo4) and turbocharged diesel engines (TDI evo2) – Volkswagen’s latest generation of 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engines. Volkswagen’s 4Motion all-wheel drive system is equipped as standard. All Tayron 4Motion models with a towing bracket are approved for trailer weights of up to 2,500 kg (braked, 12 per cent gradient).