The VW Touareg, named for a nomadic Saharan tribe, is a mid-size luxury 5-door SUV built in Bratislava, Slovakia. It's not sold in the US because it's so expensive to make that it's priced out of the American market. This is the Race-Touareg 3 door SUV that ran the 2005 Barcelona-Dakar Rally driven by Bruno Saby. The entire body of this Touareg is made from carbon fiber and weighs only 50 pounds. The tubular space frame, a mere 600 lbs. The engine is a 2.5 liter turbo-diesel inline 5 cylinder through a 6 speed. Volkswagen has been a regular participant in this annual rally since 1980.
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Makes a great model and no doubt it can chew up some rugged terrane but a beauty contestant it will never be. 🙄Â
Impressive vehicle Rich. I saw one of these on display in Fez, Morocco, a compact but highly specialized machine. Love the model.









