Volkswagen uprates Touareg rating

Volkswagen Australia has announced it has upgraded the towball weight load rating on its Touareg all-wheel-drive wagon.

The full-size SUV now has a maximum permissible tow ball weight rating on 350kg. This is in line with its US and Japanese built equivalents and represents a significant increase from its previous rating of 140kg.

It is common practice Down Under to set up trailers to place approximately 10 per cent of their mass on the towball. As such, the Touareg's previous maximum allowable towball weight of 140kg effectively limited the vehicle to towing trailers of up to 1400kg. The upgrade allows the SUV to capitalise on its respectable 3500kg maximum towing capacity.

According to Volkswagen Australia's General Manager Press & PR, Matthew Wiesner, the engineering changes required to upgrade the capacity were "very minor"

"Most of the time taken -- the best part of a year -- was spent in negotiations with Germany. European trailers and caravans, etc, are set up to have much lighter ball weights," he said.

According to Weisner, the work done by Volkswagen in Australia and Europe will hopefully flow through to amendments on the ball weights and towing capacities of selected VW commercials -- in particular, the Transporter Van and cab-chassis.