Volkswagen: Luxury rally winner built for the streets

The Race Touareg 3, which won last month's Dakar rally, has gold-painted 18-inch BBS alloy wheels. Photo / Supplied

Fancy a Dakar-winning SUV as your daily driver? Volkswagen's Race Touareg 3 Qatar concept offers just that.

It was unveiled at the Qatar motor show and is completely street-legal despite being based on the Race Touareg 3, which won last month's tortuous Dakar rally.

Under the bonnet is a 230kW 2.5-litre turbodiesel engine, a slighter tamer version of the race car's power pack which allows for a zero to 100km/h time of about 6sec.

The chassis and carbon composite body are also identical to that of the Dakar car.

Changes include a new metallic-white paint job and gold-painted 18-inch BBS alloy wheels. Inside, the cabin is more luxurious than the race car with black leather upholstery for the seats.

Even more luxurious was VW's other Qatar concept - the Touraeg Gold Edition. It features roof-rails, window-framing, badges and 22-inch alloys all finished in 24-carat gold.

Inside, everything from the door handles to air-vent surrounds are also finished in real gold.

The Gold Edition is powered by the 2.5-litre TDI rally engine.

Volkswagen says neither model is considered for production but they're sure to have grabbed the attention of wealthy sheiks, who are famous for commissioning one-off specials.