Volkswagen's motorsport division had a long history in rally competition dating back to the World Rally Championship in 1978, where various specifications of the Volkswagen Golf were campaigned until 1990. The Dakar programme that began in 2003 represented the team's return to major international rally competition and marked a significant investment in desert racing as a platform for demonstrating engineering durability and performance.
Volkswagen's debut at the Dakar Rally in 2003 used the Tarek 2WD buggy, with Stephane Henrard placing sixth overall. The following year saw the introduction of the Race Touareg 1, with Bruno Saby finishing sixth in 2004. Development continued rapidly: in 2005, Jutta Kleinschmidt finished third overall, demonstrating the Race Touareg's competitiveness at the front of the automobile field.
The Race Touareg 2 arrived for the 2006 season, when Giniel de Villiers finished second overall. Mark Miller finished fourth overall in 2007, and the car continued to develop through the subsequent seasons.
Volkswagen's three Dakar victories all came in consecutive years. Giniel de Villiers won the 2009 Dakar Rally for the manufacturer, followed by Carlos Sainz taking victory in 2010. Nasser Al-Attiyah completed the hat-trick with a win in 2011, driving the Race Touareg 3, the most refined iteration of the platform. The sequence of three consecutive victories placed Volkswagen among the most successful manufacturers in the automobile class during the Dakar's South American era.
The evolution of Volkswagen's Dakar machinery tracked the team's growing understanding of desert racing demands:
Tarek 2WD buggy (2003): the introductory platform, a purpose-built off-road buggy using a two-wheel-drive configuration.
Race Touareg 1 (2004–2005): the first iteration of the Touareg-based racer, using the production Touareg SUV as a development and marketing platform.
Race Touareg 2 (2006–2008): an evolved version with improved suspension and power delivery.
Race Touareg 3 (2009–2011): the definitive Dakar Touareg, capable of winning three consecutive editions of the rally.
Volkswagen's Dakar roster included several prominent rally and off-road specialists. Giniel de Villiers, the South African driver who would go on to become one of the most consistent Dakar performers of his generation, scored the team's first overall victory in 2009. Carlos Sainz, the Spanish driver and two-time World Rally Champion, brought his experience to the programme and delivered the 2010 victory. Nasser Al-Attiyah, the Qatari driver who would become one of the most decorated Dakar champions in history, took the 2011 win in what proved to be the team's final season at the event.
After the 2011 Dakar Rally victory, Volkswagen Motorsport concluded its Dakar programme and redirected its resources toward a full-factory WRC campaign. The team entered the World Rally Championship with the Polo R WRC in 2013 and went on to win four consecutive manufacturers' championships between 2013 and 2016, with Sebastien Ogier claiming four consecutive drivers' titles during the same period. The WRC programme ended at the close of 2016, reportedly connected to the fallout from Volkswagen's emissions scandal. By 2019, Volkswagen announced that it would cease all internal combustion engine-based motorsport activities, shifting its focus to electric vehicle manufacturing.
Volkswagen's Dakar programme demonstrated that a manufacturer could enter rally raid competition as a relative newcomer and achieve sustained success through methodical vehicle development. The three consecutive victories from 2009 to 2011 marked the high point of the programme and contributed significantly to the profile of the Race Touareg name. The drivers developed through or associated with the Volkswagen Dakar effort — particularly De Villiers and Al-Attiyah — went on to define Dakar Rally competition in the decades that followed.