Just a few more days to go.
Volkswagen has teased its upcoming new-generation Touareg SUV so much, we have a pretty solid idea of what we’re looking at, despite never having seen the car in its entirety (or have we). Already, the company has released a ‘First Impressions’ film of the car, along with a 15-year throwback looking over the successes of the Touareg. Now though, it’s gone to teasing design details, and the journey that it’s making to its big debut party in Beijing.
For the uninitiated, the Touareg is not only the brands’ flagship model, but it represented VW’s first foray into SUVs when it first arrived on the scene in 2002. It was the most luxurious model in the VW range (barring the short-lived and ill-fated Phaeton limousine), and with the arrival of the new third-generation model, the Touareg is set to claim that title once again.
The videos don’t show much of the new car, nor do they reveal too many details. What we do know, is that a series of four-cylinder forced-induction engines will feature, as well as a plug-in hybrid variant that’s said to offer as much as 285kW and 700Nm of punch. Further, it’s been suggested that there may be as much as 80km of all-electric range on offer with the Touareg PHEV, contributing to a touted fuel consumption figure of just 2.45L/100km.
The new Touareg is said to offer two digital screens handling the instrumentation and infotainment duties, displayed on a 12-inch and 15-inch display respectively. Interestingly, VW’s mentioned that the two screens are “integrated into the instrument panel and appear as one surface.” From the teaser image, we can see that the centre stack appears to be tilted ever-so-slightly towards the driver, which to us, suggests that perhaps there is a discreet angled joint where the two screens meet. That’d be kind cool.
What’s also pretty clear (to us at least) is that Volkswagen will retain a landscape orientation to its infotainment display (we actually discussed this at length: The 12-inch screen is obviously for the instruments, and a 15-inch portrait screen would look great, but we’ve not heard anything about VW rejigging its infotainment systems for portrait displays). Expect to find the usual array of HVAC controls beneath the infotainment screen, built to that same, satisfying standard that VW’s always tend to be.
The Touareg, as said at the beginning of this piece, will be making its global debut at a standalone event in Beijing, China. Be sure to stay tuned to CarShowroom as we bring you more updates as they come.
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