SPY PICS: Shock! New Volkswagen Touareg spotted in desert

Another day, another camouflaged black blob being driven towards a spy photographer in the North American desert.

This time the Germans are at it again, putting the next generation Volkswagen Touareg softroader through its paces.

The faces of the engineers have been obscured not only to protect their identity on their top secret assignment, but because chances are they don't want their friends back home to see the other photos of them outside the car that shows them wearing socks with sandals. And they call this work!

Our favourite spy photographers from Carparazzi were there to capture the sartorial elegance of Volkswagen's engineers, as they went about their business, soaking up the sun in the middle of the North American summer.

This piece of pavement and the view behind it are in the Arizona desert where temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius, which can really get under-arm sweat happening.

I bet the boys wish that prototypes weren't painted black, so the things wouldn't get so damn hot. Then again, that's the purpose of the exercise.

Any way, time to have a stab at what we can determine from the pics.

First of all, as with the 'new' Golf, expect much of the same again when the 'new' Touareg rolls around (due in 2011).

That is, it won't be a new from the ground up design, rather a new body that picks up the same hard points and most crucial dimensions as before.

Expect a range of more efficient petrol and diesel engines (gee, I wonder if a company would release a range of less-efficient engines?) and better differentiation between the Touareg and its twin under the skin, the Porsche Cayenne.

Call us a pack of nerds but we have spotted at least one thing on the outside that looks like it will be the same as that on the next Porsche Cayenne: the snazzy rear muffler.

Overseas reports claim the new Touareg will be a few centimetres longer in the wheelbase than the current car and the vehicle may even spawn a third row seat option.

There is also speculation that the Touareg has gone on a crash diet, losing 300kg.

This would mean the car would drop from its current weight of 2300kg to 2000kg, which seems highly ambitious, even for wild internet speculation.

Whatever the weight, VW Australia probably can't wait (get it?) for the new model to arrive.

There's no nice way to put this: sales of the current model Volkswagen Touareg have fallen off a cliff.

Figures for the first six months of 2009 show sales are down 39 per cent, from 627 in the first six months of 2008 to 384 in the same period this year.

So if you're in the market to buy a new, current model Touareg, which is a thoroughly decent vehicle, even though it will be replaced in about two years from now, be sure to twist an arm and drive a bargain.

See? Who said spy shots kill sales of current model cars?

-- with Carparazzi

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