The Volkswagen Touareg is a mid-size luxury SUV produced by German automaker Volkswagen since 2003. It was the second Sport Utility Vehicle from the automaker, after the much older Volkswagen Thing. The Touareg was a joint project developed by Volkswagen and Porsche, who was also looking to add a luxury SUV to its lineup, as a cost-sharing initiative. The goal was to create an off-road vehicle that could handle as a sports car.

The team, with over 300 people, was lead by Klaus-Gerhard Wolpert and was based in Weissach im Tal, Germany. The result of the joint project is that the Porsche Cayenne shares the Touareg's Volkswagen 7L platform, although there are numerous styling, equipment and technical differences between the two vehicles. The Volkswagen Touareg is built in Bratislava, Slovakia. The manufacturing plant shares production with Touareg-cousins Porsche Cayenne and Audi Q7. Due to the demand, and the exchange rates of euros against the dollar, as well as different pricing and environmental policies in the USA, the V6 and V8 variants make up most of Volkswagen's American Touareg offering. However, a limited number of the V10 diesel were available in the 2004 model year (before being pulled for environmental reasons). They were brought back to the United States for the 2006 and 2007 model years. As a result of their rarity and options, the V10 model's sticker price often exceeded $60,000 (£30,202).