Volkswagen Touareg prototype prances through the snow

Volkswagen recently teased a camouflaged new product moving under electric power in the snow. Anyone who guessed the vehicle was the updated Touareg, come on down to claim your prize. The current Touareg R eHybrid is a plug-in hybrid version and offers optional all-wheel steering — the two primary traits teased in the Twitter video. VW’s now a bit more forthcoming about what else the new SUV will offer, starting with IQ.Light, a pair of high-definition matrix headlights. Each light contains 19,200 micro-LEDs, for a total of 38,400 pixels bathing the road ahead in photos. The units are connected by an LED light strip that will be part of a reworked front fascia. In back, the surprise is a VW badge illuminated in red, the novelty legal in Europe as of the beginning of this year. 

Coming soon…! Stay tuned! 🙌🔝 pic.twitter.com/2bSfPuc9Rw

— Volkswagen News (@volkswagen)
February 10, 2023

More substantive changes can be found up top, where a roof load sensor delivers information to the dynamic systems about any load up high. When there’s no roof box on the rack, the Touareg is free to be sportier. When there’s cargo, networked sensors let babysitters like electronic stability control know to be a tad more vigilant. Down low, both suspension options — steel springs or air springs — have been tweaked to “achieve larger bandwidth between maximum comfort and optimum performance.”

Inside, the “Innovision Cockpit” receives upgrades like high-res map data and lane-precise navigation, and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay go wireless. On the comfort side, customer feedback convinced VW to make the center console armrest a little softer.

The new Touareg is finishing cold-weather testing in the Swedish Lapland. It debuts this summer.

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