In the latest instalment of our ongoing series outlining Forgotten Concepts, we take a look at the Volkswagen Concept T.

At the turn of the century, Volkswagen was enjoying its status as one of the world’s largest automakers, but there was just one small problem. Although it had built a reputation for producing – and continued to produce – passenger vehicles that pandered to markets around the world, it had become a little boring.

Sure, its many acquisitions meant that it had access to supercar tech and of course the Golf had hit a new high with the fourth generation and the GTI and R32, but Volkswagen had cash to burn. So it set its sights on the Dakar Rally, the toughest rally raid in the world. Up until that point the race was the domain of the dominant Mitsubishi-Ralliart team.

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Exciting Times Ahead

In the run-up to Volkswagen’s debut at 2004 Dakar Rally it also announced that it would unveil a new concept at the North American International Auto Show, called the Concept T. Although the low roofline, bulging arches and low overhangs were nothing that anyone expected, its moon buggy vibe didn’t quite make the waves the company expected. Still, it featured a mid-mounted 177 kW V6 and the company’s 4Motion all-wheel drive system.

The Concept T did share its overall essence with the Tarek buggies that carried the Volkswagen logo at the Dakar. Alhough, the competition-focused vehicle had bulkier rear ends and were rear-wheel drive. Over the next few years, Team Volkswagen slowly got quicker, and also had the masterstroke of naming its Dakar entry Race Touareg. This brought it closer (in nothing but name – ed) to the company line-up.

Click here to read about a Porsche 928 Mk1 Golf that was built in 1979.

Racing Success, and Concept T Revival

By the time the 2009 Dakar Rally rolled around the Race Touareg 2 was the favourite to win the event (it did, with South African racing legend Giniel de Villiers behind the wheel), but unfortunately, it looked less like the Concept T and was a bulky bespoke off-road racer. Thankfully, some of the Concept T’s design elements eventually made it to the Race Touareg 3 in 2010 and 2011, as a much sleeker and more rounded rally-raid racing special

Concept T was pegged to showcase a new production body style for Volkswagen. But the idea never really took off and the plan was shelved. Instead of a coupe-like SUV (an idea that eventually did hit the market), the bean-counters just slapped a bodykit on the regular Touareg and used a 5,0-litre V10 turbo-diesel engine for its R50 range-topper – no doubt gleaned from subsidiary Audi’s successful stint at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the R10 TDI. Just imagine what could have been…