Volkswagen announced Touran compact MPV

More pre-Paris Motor Show news

13 September 2006 23:32 GMT / By

In the latest pre-Paris Motor Show news, Volkswagen has revealed the first images of its new Touran compact MPV ahead of its debut later this month.

The revised seven-seater people carrier will be the first VW available with ParkAssist, an optional parking guidance system enabling automatic parking, using front and rear ultrasonic sensors to detect available parking space and a control unit that calculates the optimum manoeuvring path. Acoustic and visual displays guide the driver to the correct parking start position, then once reverse is selected the car parks itself in under 15 seconds – all the driver does is accelerate and brake, while the car does all the steering. How cool is that? (It’d be cooler if it wasn’t attached to a Touran, natch.)

The new Touran has a reshaped front-end, giving it a similar look to the Eos coupé cabriolet. Inside, new fabrics and stainless steel trim, plus an MP3-compatible radio/CD player are included.

In the UK, the Touran line-up of S, SE and Sport remains, with a choice of two petrol and four diesel engines. It will go on sale in the UK early next year.