Some women spend hours carefully applying a ton of makeup in such a way that people will think they’re not wearing any at all. And that’s exactly what Volkswagen’s disguise crew has been up to with these three prototypes of the facelifted Touareg SUV, the company’s flagship SUV in Europe.
Instead of plastering a ton of swirly camo wrap over its test cars to obscure the new details and trim, Volkswagen’s R&D team prefers to artfully recreate the look of the outgoing car on the grille, headlights and bumpers of a new one.
We’ve seen the technique used on prototypes of the Passat and Tiguan, and now it’s been applied to the Touareg. Drive past one of these test cars in the snow and you might reasonably assume it’s a current car, except that these pictures were probably taken in Arjeplog, Sweden, where almost every car on the road this time of year seems to be a still-secret prototype.
Related: Bigger, Rounder 2024 Volkswagen Tiguan Looks Like A Shrunken Touareg
But a closer look at the still images reveals some telltale clues that this is the facelifted car VW will unveil later this year. Most obviously the central grille bars don’t line up with the bars on the headlights and the grille itself is shorter on the new car. Exactly how much of what VW wants us to believe is grille and headlights is actually made of of black and silver tape is hard to tell, but we imagine it’s quite a lot and that the new car will adopt a skinnier grille like the one on the Mk8 Golf.
Looking lower down we can see that the prototype has more painted bumper surface around the license plate, and that the outgoing car’s lower side intake bars have been replicated with chrome tape.
We’re not seeing much different at the back, but the taillights will certainly feature a new LED design, while there will also be interior upgrades too, though most high-spec Touaregs already feature a large infotainment display and digital instrument cluster.
One thing not likely to change is the Touareg’s five-seat layout, which is one major disadvantage versus the Audi Q7 that shares the same platform. That’s perhaps one reason why Volkswagen chooses not bring the Touareg to North America, its place in the lineup being taken by the seven-seat Atlas.
