Previous spy shots of the new Volkswagen Touareg have surfaced on the web, but Autoexpress have published shots of the vehicle completely undisguised.
The flagship Volkswagen SUV seems to have been heavily inspired by the VW T-Prime GTE concept revealed at the Beijing Motor Show in 2016 (pictured below).
T-Prime concept
The new Touareg comes with thinner headlights that bleed into the vertical slats of the front grille – a VW design feature introduced on the new Arteon. The front apron has large vents giving the Touareg an imposing look from the front, while the cupped rear end has lights that come almost directly from the concept.
The SUV looks like it rides quite a bit lower than the existing Touareg, is wider and has an ‘Audiesque’ looking side profile.
According to Autoexpress, Frank Thomas, VW’s senior product manager for the sales of full-size vehicles in Hamburg says, “The wheelbase of the show car is an Audi Q7’s so we’ll take a few millimetres out of the rear door length for the production car. If anything, we think the slightly shorter body makes the crease along the sides and the falling roofline look even more dramatic.” He also confirmed that because you’ll sit a bit lower in the new Touareg, there will be more headroom.
Thomas commented on the engine, saying, “Our experience is that customers want the extra relaxed performance of six cylinders. We’ll start with a V6 diesel – although we will also offer a V8 TDI at the top of the range.”
In some markets, such as China, the Touareg will be offered with VW’s 2.0-litre TFSI turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine.
The same unit will also be paired with an electric motor to power the Touareg GTE, a plug-in hybrid that travel for small distances on electric power alone and replenish its battery reserves by using a little of the combustion engine’s capacity.