Rarely do "Touareg" and "Badass" exist in the same headline, but the freshly-unveiled diesel-powered Red Bull VW Race Touareg 3 justifies the verbiage. The purpose-built racer's destined for the Dakar Rally, VW badges and all.
About the only things the VW Race Touareg 3 and the regular VW Toureg share is a promotional budget and some bright work. Like the past two race Touaregs, gone is pretty much everything but the headlights and grille, replaced with a steel space-frame chassis covered with a carbon fiber and Kevlar body. Power comes from a twin-turbocharged 2.5-liter TDI diesel delivering 300 hp and 442 lb-ft of torque to a ZF-Sachs five-speed sequential transmission with a three-plate ceramic clutch
Three limited-slip differentials deliver power through a high-travel suspension system similar to the the one fitted to the race-winning Touareg's in 2009 and 2010. The new trucks have been optimized for the tremendous 15,000 foot race elevation changes, so performance won't suffer so badly when the engines are starving for oxygen. 0-62 mph comes in just 6.1 seconds with a top speed of 117 mph.
We're certain all the Touareg drivers out there will rest more easily knowing their cars' VW badge has been race-tested in the Atacama desert.