After seeing 2 million downloads of its mobile racing game that introduced the GTI car model, Volkswagen is at it again, launching an application for the new Touareg SUV.

Volkswagen has created the Volkswagen Touareg Challenge, right in time for the German sales launch of the brand-new Volkswagen Touareg. The application lets iPhone users take the new car model for a virtual test drive.

?For Volkswagen, it's about strengthening their international positioning, but of course also about selling premium cars,? said Cornelia Lenz, head of egames and part of the marketing communications team at Volkswagen, Wolfsburg, Germany.

?By reaching out to potential buyers through a quality ad game on the iPhone, Volkswagen utilizes Apple?s premium environment to present its products in the right context while also taking advantage of the viral push that free quality games get on the App Store in 80 countries,? she said.

Fishlabs created the game for Volkswagen. The company specializes in 3D mobile game development for iPhone, iPad, Nokia, Android smartphones and J2ME (Java).

From ocean drive to off-road adventure, players can experience the versatility of the new Touareg and put it to the test on six distinct on- and off-road courses.

The courses must be mastered for the best time in a variety of weather and road conditions. Those who choose the Touareg Hybrid also win additional points for efficient driving.

Successfully completed courses automatically unlock more paint jobs and new rims in the car configuration.

What is different about this is that this time, it is more than a straight-forward racing game that engages the consumer based on the standard gameplay of who is faster.

?Mobile is a highly fragmented market and often the quality standards of how cars can be displayed on a mobile phone are unacceptable for a premium carmaker like Volkswagen,? Ms. Lenz said. ?Only consistent and high-end smartphone platforms like the iPhone, but also the iPod touch, meet the right criteria.

?Furthermore, distribution of mobile content has always been the greatest challenge,? she said. ?Ironically, that is even truer for free content, because mobile operators rarely give away precious deck placement for free content, especially if only high-end smartphones are supported.

?This is why OEM channels like Apple iTunes, Android Marketplace and Nokia Ovi are so much better suited for rolling out ad games on a global and high-quality level.?    

Volkswagen has been quite busy in the mobile space lately, having launched iPhone applications and a new mobile site, as well as dabbling with mobile advertising in 2009.

The Volkswagen Polo Challenge chalked up more than 820,000 downloads in March. Volkswagen's Polo debuted at the Geneva Motor Show on March 3, 2009, supported by the mobile racing game for the iPhone and iPod that went live in the Apple App Store on the same day.

The Volkswagen Polo Challenge was the first mobile campaign ever for Volkswagen.

Given the tremendous success of this and other Volkswagen ad games, the company has focused solely on the iPhone platform so far.

However, Volkswagen is in talks with Fishlabs to expand its success to other smartphone platforms in the near future.

?Mobile has a global reach, it is connected and therefore suited to interacting and communicating with consumers,? Ms. Lenz said. ?The mobile phone is a personal device that everyone carries around, it is emotional and it is hot. What more can a marketer ask for?

?So far Volkswagen has released five quality ad games that, without exception, have outperformed any single ad game from its competitors,? she said. ?It is fair to say that Volkswagen is ? in their segment ? the leader in mobile space.?

Here are some creen grabs of the Volkswagen Touareg Challenge: