In total, approximately 35 per cent of the 285 hp desert rally-car’s components were newly developed.

The Race Touareg 2, known internally as Type 586 and which debuted at the Rally Baja Portalegre in October 2005, proved its potential with second place at the Dakar Rally and victories at the Rally Transibérico and Moroccan Rally.

"The Race Touareg 2 was very reliable from the word go”, emphasises Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. "That’s why we could focus our attention on extracting even more performance in the next development stage.”