Touareg Will Drive Across Eurasia to Beijing Debut

On March 23 Volkswagen will unveil the brand new Touareg in Beijing, on the occasion of that city’s auto show.

Normally that would mean shipping the car to its location so that it can arrive all clean and shiny to the auto show floor so that the world’s media can take pictures of it. But the Touareg isn’t some show car, it’s a go anywhere, do anything, SUV.

So VW’s going to drive it there.

The journey started in Slovakia, where the Touareg is made, at the beginning of the month and will hit Poland, Austria, Russia, the Mongolian Plains, and eventually Beijing just in time for the Auto Show. That’s a journey of more than 16,000 kilometers (nearly 10,000 miles) through 11 countries (it’s not going as the crow flies).

Last we checked, a Touareg holds the world record for speed crossing the Eurasian continent in just 6 days, 9 hours, and 38 minutes, so this much slower trip in a much newer Touareg should be a doddle.

Sitting on the MLB platform, the new Touareg, like the old, will be positioned as a two-row luxury SUV, though it will still be on the low end of the spectrum with the Q7, Bentayga, Cayenne, Urus range, which all share the same architecture.

China is expected to be the Touareg’s key market—hence the reveal in Beijing—so it will likely get a plug-in hybrid drivetrain.

Don’t expect to see a Touareg driving down your street, though, since it won’t be headed stateside.

The post Touareg Will Drive Across Eurasia to Beijing Debut appeared first on VWVortex.

from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2DerJEX
via IFTTT

Comments

Watch: The Stig Drives (nearly) Seven Generations of Golf GTI

With Volkswagen announcing “major” updates to the Golf, it seems an appropriate time to look back on what we’ve had so far. And who better to guide us through the rich history of the most popular European car ever made than Ben Collins, the former Stig? Some say he’s never met a GTI he doesn’t love, and that he can’t grow any of his own facial hair. All we know is … Ben Collins is actually a pretty solid presenter. Working his way through seven generations of the GTI (skipping over the Mk6) Collins tells us a little bit about each one and matches each mark to its corresponding facial hair craze. The Mk1 GTI for instance, is light and quick, but can lose traction under hard acceleration (in heavy rain). Despite that, Collins calls the Mk1 a “pure gem.” The Mk4, meanwhile, is a powerful return to form after the perhaps too sensible Mk3. Collins ends in the only way he could, with the Mk7, which accelerates faster than a Lamborghini Countach and is all kinds of wonderful. Watch, ...

Watch: The Story of the Ads that Made VW Big in America

The ads for the original Beetle are almost as famous and well-loved as the Beetle itself. Looking back now it’s easy to forget, though, just how easily things could have wrong. A new short from Dial M Films tracks the history of those early Volkswagen ads that sold America on the people’s car. The story, of course, begins with the visionary agency that made the ads: Doyle Dane Bernach (DDB). As a popular agency for Jewish products, no agency was more aware of the implications of Volkswagen, and no one, it seems, was more skeptical of the brand than DDB. “Remember Those Great Volkswagen Ads?” from Dial M Films on Vimeo . William Bernbach, though, was adament that the firm take the client, probably as a way of attracting other lucrative automotive clients. Saddled with a client that he didn’t want, art director Helmut Krone says in the film that he originally came up with ads that were all wrong. Krone tried to do what other manufacturers did and was intent on selling the Beetle ...

Watch: The Zerouno Cruis’n USA

ItalDesign is drumming up excitement for its new supercar based around the same 5.2-liter Audi V10 that powers the R8. Naturally, it hit the road for a cruise around California last week to celebrate Monterey Car Week. There isn’t much in the way of V10 noise—which is a real shame given the sound it makes—but you do at least get a good look at the car inside and out in this video. With a body made entirely of carbon fiber and designed to be as aerodynamic and light as possible, ItalDesign figures that it will be good for a 0-60 time of just 3.2 seconds. “We put it our best skills into the production of the first car,” said Massimo Bovi, head of pre-series production, when the Zerouno was first unveiled in Geneva earlier this year. “Using some of the finest productions methods and engaging our high-skilled workers.” The car features clever aero tricks gleaned from single-seat racing, like a y-duct up front to improve downforce and turn-in. Available in a number of trim levels, the...

Vorderman Volkswagen

Search This Blog