New Volkswagen Touareg gets plush Final Edition ahead of 2027 chop

The Volkswagen Touareg is nearing retirement with production of the flagship SUV is set to come to an end in early 2027, so the brand is marking the occasion with two special Final Edition models.

There’s the regular Touareg Final Edition, which is available to order now for £72,535, and the potent Touareg R Final Edition that costs from £81,455. Unique design elements include laser-etched Final Edition badging on the rear window surrounds, debossed badging on the gear selector and illuminated logos on the dashboard. 

The Touareg Final Edition costs nearly £2,000 less than the outgoing Black Edition, but Volkswagen says it comes with £2,500 worth of additional features like Varenna leather seats, a power folding tow bar, trailer-assist and, curiously, a larger 90-litre fuel tank to supply the 281bhp 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine.

That’s also on top of the Black Edition’s standard kit list, which includes a 15-inch touchscreen infotainment system with gesture control, 21-inch alloy wheels, adaptive cruise control and Volkswagen’s ‘Park Assist Pro’ system. 

It also comes with ‘4Motion’ all-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic gearbox, as does the Touareg R Final Edition. However, the hotter version swaps diesel for a 456bhp plug-in hybrid powertrain, good for 0-62mph in close to five seconds. 

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Why should we care that the Touareg is dead?

To dismiss the end of Touareg production would be a mistake. This high-class SUV represents more than just the end of a model line, it’s also the last surviving vestige of VW’s ultra-ambitious era of engineering under the leadership of its late chairman, Ferdinand Piech. 

This didn’t just result in the Touareg and Phaeton four-door saloon, but also drove the development of the VW Group’s profit-generating high-end models like the Porsche Cayenne and even the Bentley Continental GT.

The original Touareg was brought to market in 2002 as an ambitious, high-cost SUV designed to rival cars like the BMW X5 and Mercedes GLE (or ML as it was badged at the time). The difference was that the Touareg had genuine off-road ability, with locking differentials and height-adjustable air-suspension. 

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This ambition spread to powertrains too, as this was the first VW-badged car with a V8 petrol engine, not forgetting the iconic V10 turbodiesel. Volkswagen engineers even managed to cram in a 6.0-litre W12 into the first-generation Touareg’s engine bay for a limited production run. 

It also formed the foundation of the Cayenne, a model that in its first two generations was so closely developed with VW that it shared door skins with the Touareg. With no Touareg, there might not have been a Cayenne; Porsche could have looked very different to the company it is today.

So despite selling in relatively small numbers, the Touareg’s position within the VW Group’s premium offering is still central to all the big SUVs built on its MLB-Evo platform. This doesn’t just include the Porsche, but also the Audi Q7 and Q8, Bentley Bentayga and even the Lamborghini Urus – all of which draw their key underpinnings with the VW.

Curiously, in the documentation alongside the Final Edition’s release, Volkswagen said “production of the Touareg combustion engine model is due to end for UK customers in 2027”, suggesting that while the SUV might be put to sleep as we know it, the moniker could be revived some time in the future with an all-electric powertrain. 

In order for a new model to be able to carry the Touareg name, though, it doesn’t just need to be big, it also needs to be the technical innovator within the group. We’ll have to wait and see if VW is able to pull off such a feat again.

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