2021 Volkswagen Touareg gets Wolfsburg treatment

Volkswagen has announced the arrival of a limited edition Touareg Wolfsburg edition for March 2021. A total of just 300 of these Large SUVs will land in Australia with the choice of V8 or V6 diesel engines to accompany the unique interior and exterior styling.

Both specifications are identical apart from the powertrain – the V6 is naturally more affordably priced, at $119,990 before on-road costs. The punchier V8 starts at $139,990 before options.

The last Volkswagen to wear the Wolfsburg badge was the fantastic Golf R Wagon in its fully loaded, luxury form. This Touareg uses the same modus operandi and represents the zenith of the Touareg range.

Pragmatic buyers will appreciate the Touareg over its flashier, platform and engine sharing cousins like the Porsche Cayenne and Audi Q7 which slap a significant premium on the otherwise similar level of engineering.

Here at Chasing Cars we also think the Touareg looks fantastic in its current iteration with simple, unfussy styling. Outside, the Wolfsburg editions play up the looks with a set of 21-inch ‘Suzuka’ alloy wheels finished in black, new Wolfsburg badging and black R-Line styling package where cooking models get chrome trimmings.

Inside is a similar story with the thoughtful luxury of soft-close doors (a first for the Touareg) to make ingress a relaxed affair. The sound and comfort package is standard, as is the Innovision pack which brings a whopping 15-inch central touchscreen, 12.3-inch digital driver’s display with map readouts, a head-up display and ambient lighting with 30 possible colours.

Naturally, the front seats are both heated and electrically adjustable with memory function, as well as being appointed in premium Vienna leather, there’s also dual-zone climate control, power tailgate, LED head and tail lights and an electrically adjustable, heated R-Line steering wheel.

Keeping the Touareg’s ride plush is standard-fit adaptive air suspension, though to keep things precise in corners active roll stabilisation is present. Four-wheel steer will help further with the big SUVs manoeuvrability around town.

In fact, the specification of the Wolfsburg closely mirrors that of the 190TDI R-Line we tested earlier in the year – you can read all about that here.

Optionally Volkswagen offers a panoramic sunroof for another $3,000, while the only no-cost paint option is white. Otherwise, you’re looking at an extra $2,100 for the pictured Deep Black Pearl colourway, with Moonlight Blue and Antimonial Silver rounding out the list of hues.

Active safety equipment generously includes AEB with pedestrian detection, 360-degree camera system, lane-trace assist, front and rear cross-traffic alert and adaptive cruise with stop and go functionality. 

Powering the more affordable Wolfsburg three-litre V6 TDI is an updated unit with ample outputs of 210kW and 600Nm sent to all four wheels, this powertrain will make up 200 of the total allocation due in Australia.

Of course, if you need more grunt for whatever reason, there is a 310kW/900Nm four-litre V8 turbodiesel offered that should send the big Touareg to 100km/h in a staggering 4.9 seconds. That option accounts for the remaining 100 units.

The Touareg Wolfsburg edition is due in Australia by March 2021, with allocations likely to sell out fast.