Photo of the ‘3rd Generation Facelift New Touareg’ by Lee Sang-jin

Volkswagen Korea officially launches the significantly enhanced flagship SUV ‘New Touareg’ in the domestic market.

The Touareg, which embodies Volkswagen’s technological prowess and know-how, has redefined the benchmarks of premium SUVs with each generation since its global debut in 2002. Since the establishment of Volkswagen Korea’s corporation in 2005 and the introduction of the first-generation model, it has catered to customers seeking a differentiated premium SUV, forming a strong fan base.

The newly launched ‘New Touareg’ is a 3rd generation facelift model that returns with significantly enhanced product appeal, featuring a more stylish exterior design along with advanced safety and convenience specifications befitting a flagship model.

Photo of the ‘New Touareg Rear’ by Lee Sang-jin

Tilshare, CEO of Volkswagen Group Korea, explained, “The Touareg, Volkswagen’s most advanced SUV, is the model that best embodies the value of ‘innovation.’” He added, “The ‘New Touareg’ is equipped with innovative advanced technology, superior comfort, and powerful performance, embodying all virtues required for a premium SUV. We expect that it will receive a positive response from customers with discerning standards, offering advanced features combined with reliable high performance at a reasonable price and economy.”

The new Touareg has evolved with a design style that inherits Volkswagen’s timeless design DNA while capturing the dynamism of an SUV and the premium emotions of a flagship model.

The front of the vehicle is upgraded with a newly applied ‘Front LED Light Strip’, radiator grille, and a sporty black-tone front bumper that creates perfect harmony.

A standout feature of the Touareg’s front is the first-ever equipped ‘IQ.LIGHT HD Matrix Headlight’, which completes the signature front design of the Touareg with a newly applied ‘3 Eyes’ design.

Photo of the ‘New Touareg Side’ by Lee Sang-jin

The side view features a new side skirt design (applied with R-Line) that emphasizes the vehicle’s three-dimensionality, and a ‘Side Mirror Logo Projection’ function projects the Volkswagen logo onto the ground, maximizing the premium feel.

At the rear, a new design of LED rear combination lamps combines a horizontally extended LED line and six ‘L’-shaped LEDs, enhancing the presence of the Touareg. The R-Line trim includes a newly applied black rear diffuser that adds a dynamic impression.

The brand’s first highly advanced intelligent lighting system, ‘IQ.LIGHT HD Matrix Headlight’, showcases Volkswagen’s innovative technology. With over 38,000 interactive LEDs, it provides optimized lighting based on driving speed, camera, navigation, and GPS information, enabling smooth driving in various nighttime conditions as if it were daytime.

Photo of the ‘New Touareg Interior’ by Lee Sang-jin

The ‘IQ.LIGHT HD Matrix Headlight’ offers a total of 12 lighting modes, particularly featuring advanced technology that shines partial lights without disrupting the view of opposing drivers on the road.

New functions included with the ‘IQ.LIGHT HD Matrix Headlight’ involve the ‘Rain Light’ that illuminates the current or intended lane, the ‘Rain Light Lane Change Warning’ that highlights the adjacent lane boundary when detecting a vehicle during a lane change attempt, and the light animation ‘Coming Home/Leaving Home Light’ that welcomes and sees off the driver when the driver’s door is opened or the engine is turned off. Other features include ‘Dynamic Light Assist’, ‘Dynamic Cornering Light’, and ‘Dynamic Turn Signal’.

The new Touareg comes packed with rich features appropriate for a premium SUV, boasting even stronger product appeal compared to the previous model. First, the ‘Dynaudio Consequence’ sound system from Denmark is standard across all trims. This system features 12+1 speakers, a 16-channel amplifier, a subwoofer, and 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound, delivering a grand sound output of up to 730W.

Additions to enhance passenger convenience include ‘Soft Door Closing’ and rear seat door curtains across all trims. Ambient lighting has been upgraded to 30 different colors, allowing drivers to set separate colors for the upper and lower sections, and new lighting has been added for the footwell and cup holder sections.

The new Touareg features the ‘Innovision Cockpit’ equipped with a 12-inch digital cockpit, a 15-inch MIB3 Discover Pro Max infotainment system, and a head-up display, demonstrating the essence of an intuitive digital interface.

Photo of the ‘Touareg Engine Room’ by Lee Sang-jin

Through the MIB3 infotainment system, functions such as smartphone wireless app connect, gesture control and voice controls activated by saying “Hello Volkswagen,” which also allows for air conditioning adjustments, are available across all trims.

Additionally, features like smartphone wireless charging and a USB-C data/charging port capable of charging devices like tablets up to 45W are included, along with front seats that come with heating, ventilation, massage, and memory functions—all equipped with 18-way ergo comfort seat adjustments, four-zone climatronic automatic air conditioning, and a panoramic sunroof for a convenient and comfortable environment.

The new Touareg is powered by the EA897 evo3 V6 3.0 TDI engine, combining powerful driving force and efficiency. It features an innovative ‘Twin Dosing Technology’ system equipped with two SCR catalytic converters. This, when combined with an all-wheel drive system and an 8-speed automatic transmission, produces a maximum output of 286 horsepower and a broad torque range of 61.2 kg.m at 1,750–3,250 rpm, providing effective and powerful drive capability in any driving environment. The certified fuel economy is 10.8 km/l (9.6 km/l urban, 12.8 km/l highway).

The newly added ‘Roof Load Sensor’ serves to enhance the vehicle’s driving stability in conjunction with the body control system and advanced driving devices while facilitating dynamic performance.

Like the previous model, the new Touareg is equipped with an ‘Air Suspension’ system that optimizes the vehicle’s height according to the driving mode, along with an all-wheel steering system that adjusts the steering angle of both the front and rear wheels, ensuring optimal performance and stability for both on and off-road driving.

The new Touareg comes standard with Volkswagen’s cutting-edge driver assistance system ‘IQ. Drive’ across all trims.

Features such as ‘Front Cross Traffic Assist,’ which detects traffic conditions at intersections and warns or applies emergency braking for frontal blind spot risks, as well as camera and sensor integration, adaptive cruise control, and lane assist, work together in the ‘Travel Assist’ to provide proactive driving support. Additionally, the ‘Proactive Passenger Protection System (Pre Crash 360º)’ protects passengers by responding to collision risks in all areas, including front, rear, and sides.

Photo of the ‘New Touareg with 20-inch Wheels’ by Lee Sang-jin

Various functions that assist in the comfortable and safe driving experience are also standard, including Side Assist, Lane Assist, Rear Traffic Warning System, Park Assist Plus, and Area View.

The pricing for the new Touareg is set at 100.99 million KRW for the Prestige model and 106.99 million KRW for the R-Line (including VAT), with various benefits available for purchasing customers as a launch commemorative offer.

Customers trading in their old vehicle will receive an additional benefit of 3 million KRW, and a benefit of 1.5 million KRW for those repurchasing Volkswagen vehicles. Furthermore, a ‘5-year/150,000 km warranty’ and ‘Accident Repair Total Care Service’ are provided, covering self-pay amounts for accident vehicle repairs up to a total of 5 times at official service centers.

With Volkswagen Financial Services, customers purchasing the New Touareg Prestige model can choose between a 36-month Buy Back installment campaign or a 60-month Classic installment campaign. Through the Buy Back installment campaign, customers can acquire the Touareg by paying a down payment of 30% (29,388,090 KRW) followed by monthly payments of about 860,000 KRW. For those opting for the Classic installment campaign, a 30% down payment followed by monthly payments of about 1,300,000 KRW allows access to the Touareg.

Photo of the ‘New Touareg Front Side’ by Lee Sang-jin

For customers using Volkswagen Financial Services, there is also a ‘Body & Parts Protection’ benefit, which compensates for repair costs for a one-time occurrence of damage to the exterior body, windshield, side mirrors, or tires within one year or 20,000 km.

Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr