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2018 Volkswagen Touareg Rendered Based on T-Prime GTE Concept

Almost like Mitsubishi, Volkswagen has been making too many SUV concepts and not enough production cars. The latest is called the T-Prime GTE and made its debut last month during the Beijing Motor Show. Could it be Optimus Prime's Chinese brother from a German mother or a preview for the next generation of the Touareg.
2018 Volkswagen Touareg Rendered Based on T-Prime GTE Concept 8 photos
Photo: RM Design
2018 Volkswagen Touareg Rendered Based on T-Prime GTE Concept2018 Volkswagen Touareg Rendered Based on T-Prime GTE ConceptT-Prime GTE ConceptT-Prime GTE ConceptT-Prime GTE ConceptT-Prime GTE ConceptT-Prime GTE Concept
The Chinese media says it's neither, as the T-Prime GTE simply previews something new from Vdub, something a lot bigger. Not only is the concept more crossover-like than the current Q7 sister car, but it's also much bigger. From one bumper to the other, Beijing's debut measures 171mm or 6.7 inches more!

The good news is that the T-Prime's powertrain suggests it's underpinned by the Audi MLB, as its engine is mounted longitudinally and still sends power directly to the back wheels.

The available 375 PS and 699Nm (516 lb-ft) arrive as a collaboration between the conventional 2.0-liter TSI engine with 248 PS and an electric motor housed by the 8-speed automatic transmission.

Curious what the Touareg 3 or its larger cousin will look like when in production? Just check out these renderings by RM Design, who dulled down the features of the T-Prime concept using elements from current production Volkswagens (mainly the Tiguan). It still looks slightly sportier than the Volvo XC90, so it's not a bad car.

But the question is: when will it arrive? The current generation received a facelift in 2014, three years after its initial debut. So the all-new model should come in 2017. However, VW takes a long time to test each car and we haven't seen any Touareg-sized mules yet, so we think 2018 is the likely year of the debut.

Without a doubt, the SUV will be much lighter than its current iteration, as Audi managed to get its Q7 right below 2 tons. Even though the Touareg dropped its slow-selling Hybrid model, it needs to make a comeback due to upcoming emission regulations. Based on the T-Prime, we can speculate that it may even go plug-in.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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