Dramatically more urban focused than its range siblings, R50 is the work of VW Individual, the Wolfsburg based engineering group responsible for some of VW's more radical products such as the Golf R32, Passat R36 and the Bluemotion range.
The bulbous exterior proportions and appearance have been softened by a new styling kit and large, multi-spoke mags shod with decidedly road-biased tires.
VW is understandably mum about technical details but a revised suspension set-up, providing better high-speed tarmac touring ability, is though to be part of the R50 package too.
Power has been increased too, with the 4.9-litre, V10 turbodiesel producing 260kW and 813Nm, up from the standard Touareg outputs of 230kW and 750Nm.
With the standard version already averaging just over 6km's to the litre, fuel consumption hardly expected to improve with the more powerful R50 version.
With it's smoother styling, road biased suspension and tyre package and increased power output it would appear R50 is gunning for some of its chassis cousin, the Porsche Cayenne's, market space.