Concept previews new Touareg

The T-Prime Concept GTE reveals how the next Touareg should look.

Here it is at the Beijing Motor Show, in the flesh, Volkswagen's new Touareg, albeit in slightly spangly T-Prime Concept GTE form. It's a big, smooth-looking SUV, and Volkswagen is making lots of noise about its high-tech new interior. It's a 'glass cockpit' in aviation terms - all screens, hardly any buttons. Even the eight-speed automatic transmission is controlled by a glass-screen click-wheel: iPod control finally comes to your gearbox... There's also gesture control for the huge, curved central display screen.

Underneath is a 381hp GTE plugin hybrid drivetrain, which can go for 50km on a full charge of its lithium ion battery pack. Style-wise it's very much a blend of the new Tiguan and the previously seen CrossBlue concept.

Also on the Volkswagen stand are the Magotan (terrible name, actually a long-wheelbase Passat), the new Phideon (a large luxury saloon, but not the new Phaeton) and the Budd-e concept (the microbus-style all-electric concept already seen in the US).

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