VW Issues Stop Sale Order on Taos

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

If you’ve set sights on driving home a new Volkswagen Taos today, best cool your jets. According to a report by Automotive News, the model is under a stop-sale order by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Well, all-wheel-drive models are, anyway.

Apparently, there have been reports of 4Motion-equipped Taos vehicles shutting down its engine when rolling to a halt, a trait few drivers would appreciate. And, before you ask, this isn’t the standard start-stop system simply doing its thing to save fuel. Reports say the manufacturer is ‘researching a repair’, suggesting the company doesn’t currently have a fix for affected vehicles. In the meantime, we’re sure dealers will be more than happy to plug customers into a front-wheel drive trim.

It’s worth noting that Taos models running with 4Motion are equipped with a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox instead of the more conventional 8-speed automatic found on front-wheel drive models. Could the DSG be stumbling when downshifting to a lower gear as the driver eases the machine to a halt? For what it’s worth, the engine remains the same across both trims – a 1.5L turbocharged four-cylinder making 158 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque.

Taos is an important model for Volkswagen, permitting it to play in the competitive subcompact crossover class. Having gone on sale in Q2 of this calendar year, the new trucklet has already racked up almost 5,000 sales in America through to the end of June, the only month it’s been on dealer lots. Since it is a fresh vehicle in the lineup, an argument can be made that every copy sold is an incremental sale.

For comparison, the Atlas and its Cross Sport cousin combined to shift nearly 70,000 units in the same time period, so Taos has a ways to go yet before it can even remotely claim superiority in the Volkswagen lineup. The brand also sold about 65,000 Tiguan SUVs in Q2 2021, by the way. If the Taos performed as well in the other five months of the year as it did in June, it would have still only sold about half as well as the Tiguan.

[Image: Volkswagen]

Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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