3M Automotive, St. Paul, Minn., is helping sponsor the TDI-Panamericana Endurance Challenge that began June 29 in Argentina and will end in Alaska.

A pair of 3M products are on the 2011 Volkswagen Touareg TDI^® Clean Diesel SUV as it tackles the world’s longest road for nearly 16,000 miles of what is planned to be a world-record-setting adventure. The tour is being conducted in celebration of the Pan-American Highway’s 75th anniversary and to demonstrate the power and durability of clean diesel technology.

Paint protection film from 3M will help protect the Touareg from flying rocks, bugs and debris; half of the vehicle’s hood and front fascia have been covered in order to demonstrate PPF’s benefits.

“At the tour’s conclusion, we will peel back the film to show the difference it made,” said Tracy Morisi, 3M Automotive customer innovation manager.

Additionally 3M’s lead-free Wheel Weights are on the vehicle.

In what’s hoped to be a record-setting 14 days, a crew of three drivers will take five-hour shifts to travel virtually nonstop through 14 countries and over challenging terrain, including the Atacama Desert, a 13,600-foot-high Andean pass, humid rainforests in Central America and the Arctic tundra in Alaska.

Rainer Zietlow, manager of the German car event agency Challenge4 GmbH and head of the three-person driving crew, will donate 10 Euro cents for each kilometer driven during this trip to two villages in Latin America managed by Plan International, a charity that works in 48 developing countries to promote children’s rights and help lift millions of children out of poverty.