What's Wrong With This Picture: VW's SUV Schizophrenia Edition
Published: January 27th, 2011
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Volkswagen captures the schizophrenia of the SUV phenomenon by offering the Qatar auto show two ways to Touareg: the rugged rally-raid fantasy of its Dakar racer-for-the-street “Race Touareg” and the status-seeking bourgeois bling of the Touareg Gold Edition. Which raises an interesting question: if both were offered for sale, which would sell better? I’m sure most of TTAC’s readers would join me in saying I’d buy the Race Touareg but sell the Gold Edition. After all, urban posing is the mass-market reality underlying the rugged outdoorsy fantasy of SUV marketing.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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I'm with you on this one. Someone looking at the 'Gold' Toureg would probably better satisfy their purchasing objectives by buying an Audi, whereas even an Audi fan would be intrigued by the 'Mad Maxed' Toureg.
I was there at the unveiling, and to be honest i was very happy to see the Race Touareg, it's interior is not what you call production ready but the potential is there. however what was hinted by the officials there is that the Race Touareg would be offered for sale in a fashion that a quick and relatively cheap conversion would make it ready for racing duties as a customer/privateer car. whether some in the M.E region would buy them and run them on the street and some dune bashing is highly possible regardless of the price (in this case) but from the driver's seat you can't see much so i doubt anyone would actually want to risk it and drive in any kind of traffic... as you can seriously not see a whole car if its a bit close. the Gold touareg is abit of a weird creature. the neatest thing i thought was the gold dust in the paint job, and the gold flake insert in the wood panels. other than that i think the Touareg is a really nice car and the gold stuff makes it look too tacky. but i couldnt help but thinking that it was a special one off edition made for the Emir of Qatar's wife as a gift of some sort, i wouldnt be surprised if it ended up in his garage.