2009 Volkswagon Tiguan Concept
July 2nd, 2007
When it comes to sport utility vehicles consumers are very picky. Honda didn’t add a factory snorkel option when it redesigned the CR-V, and focus groups voted nay on a six-inch body lift to allow for more suspension travel on the latest Cadillac Escalade. Buy a Nissan Xterra, though, and you do get a first-aid kit. Someone at some point in these vehicles’ development drew lines on the conservative edge of dedication to the trail.
With its upcoming Tiguan, Volkswagen has seen fit to push that line a little further to the dirty side with a Land Rover–esque catalog of off-road-slanted electronic aids and even two different front-end styles, one (called “Sport & Style”) for on-road Tigs and one (“Track & Field”) that allows for a 28-degree approach angle.
VW Tiguan Concept
December 19th, 2006
Volkswagen was able to show off a close-to-production concept vehicle of its Tiguan SUV, due in showrooms a year from now, at the L.A. Auto Show. The Tiguan is powered by a diesel engine that will use Bluetec technology, the result of a joint effort among VW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz to promote clean-burning diesels.
An SUV at the low-end, priced in the mid $20K-$30K bracket is way way overdue for Volkswagen. As soon-to-be former Bernd Pischetsrieder told me once…it wasn’t his idea not to build a platform for the current generation Golf that could more easily accomodate a small SUV. That bit of business, he said, was on former chairman and current antagonizer Ferdinand Piech’s plate.