What's the news?
Big news here, as this is our first look at the all-new, third-generation Volkswagen Touareg large SUV - due to launch later this year.
With the first two generations each last eight years in production (the Touareg first appeared in 2002), the time is ripe for Volkswagen to strike back in this hotly-contested marketplace that includes vehicles like the BMW X5, Porsche Cayenne, Audi Q7 and Land Rover Discovery 5.
Volkswagen says the Touareg will be its flagship - rather than the Arteon - and as such it 'shows all of the brand's power with its expressive design, innovative technologies and dynamic handling properties'.
However, in an unusual move, Volkswagen will not be debuting the Touareg Mk3 just over the border from its homeland, at the Geneva Motor Show in March, but will instead give the large SUV its global bow in Beijing at the end of the same month. This is probably because said section of the SUV market is going to double in volume in China by 2023 and as Volkswagen has sold around one million examples of the Touareg across its first two generations, you can see it's a vitally important car to the German company's books.
Apart from that, what we know is all we can see here, plus a few vague details. The design is by Klaus Bischoff, while the Touareg will be fitted with a 'phalanx' of innovative safety assistance systems and the 12.3-inch Active Info Display instrument cluster, as part of something called the 'Innovision Cockpit'. Options will include air suspension, rear-wheel steering and active roll stabilisation - using that 48-volt electrical system already seen in the Audi SQ7 and the latest A7 Sportback from the same company.
Anything else?
One piece of information filtering back to us from Volkswagen Ireland suggests the new Mk3 Touareg will not be offered as an N1 commercial vehicle here, only a passenger variant, so sales of the existing Mk2 Touareg N1 CV should remain strong for the foreseeable future.