This VW'smassive new gravel travel vehicle looks like it's destined for China only.

VW has officially revealed its largest SUV, named the Talagon.

For those fans of the German brand who don’t quite want to go for the premium luxury of Touareg, but require something that can seat multiple passengers in comfort, the Talagon looks ideal.

It measures 5.15m in length, is 2m wide and stands 1.79m tall. No question, this is a large SUV, but it is amazingly built on a compact vehicle platform.

The Talagon illustrates how incredibly flexible VW’s platform strategy is. It might be a huge SUV but it shares a platform structure with Golf 8. This is the genius behind VW’s MQB Evo modularity, allowing producing planners and engineers to stretch wheelbase specifications a lot – and create multiple models.

Reasonably clean and conservative exterior design is supported by a cabin architecture that features three rows of seating. Large digital screens provide the instrumentation and infotainment interfacing, angled toward the driver.

Unlike the Touareg, and perhaps due to its MQB platform, the Talagon is not designed for robust off-road exploration. Think of it more in the line of a large station wagon, with adequate ride height and gravel travel ability.

Targeted primarily at the Chinese market, where diesel use is negligible, the Talagon’s powertrain is VW’s 2.5-litre turbopetrol V6. It might be an odd configuration to South African petrolheads, but there is 220 kW of power on offer, supported by 500 Nm of torque.

Drive is to all four wheels, via the 4Motion system, with rapid and relaxed shifting available, thanks to VW’s seven-speed DSG transmission.

So, VW’s largest SUV is based on the new Golf’s underpinnings? Strange, but true.

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