The "news" today was also about how the Touareg would serve as precursor to Porsche's Cayenne SUV. But as Porsche's engineers told me last year, a hybrid version of the Cayenne has been planned for quite some time. It would make sense though for the Touareg to turn hybrid based on the Cayenne since both vehicles share the same platform (a lot of people don't like to hear that after spending so much money on the Cayenne). Either way, I would expect the Touareg to be Volkswagen's debut hybrid model, whenever that will be.