Skip to main content

The Old Tiguan is Sticking Around, but Why?

The enlarged, second-generation Volkswagen Tiguan arrives at Volkswagen of America’s dealers this summer, leaving room beneath Volkswagen’s Honda CR-V challenger for a smaller, more affordable utility vehicle.

No, not the T-Roc. That’s later. As we now all know, the existing Volkswagen Tiguan will survive as the Volkswagen Tiguan Limited. Fans of the old Tiguan will rejoice, but others may be asking why.

Volkswagen won’t be the first automaker to replace an old model, only to provide the old model with a stay of execution. You’ll fondly recall the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu Classic, which is decidedly not a classic, that cohabited with the seventh-generation Malibu in GM’s sedan lineup for fleet purposes. Chevrolet then did the same with the Impala Limited, a continuing ninth-gen full-size sedan that fought for fleet sales while the current Impala became a retail-oriented car.

Then there’s the Nissan Rogue Select — the first-generation Rogue you wouldn’t select — which ran as a distinctly affordable compact crossover from 2014 to 2015 in conjunction with the current Nissan Rogue.

But it’s also a strategy Volkswagen knows well, even here in North America. The Volkswagen City Golf and City Jetta were Mk4 Volkswagen compacts that continued for four model years following the launch of the fifth-gen Golf (initially known as Rabbit) and Jetta.

Likewise, America’s 2017 Volkswagen Tiguan will become the 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan Limited. Yes, the 2018 model year will be its tenth. It’s somewhat cramped: with 23.8 cubic feet of cargo capacity behind the rear seats and 95.4 cubic feet of passenger volume, the 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan Limited will be 39 percent and 10 percent less voluminous, respectively, than a 2018 Honda CR-V.

However, the Tiguan Limited won’t be Volkswagen’s primary CR-V competitor. The 2018 Tiguan (sans Limited badge) is ten inches longer than the Tiguan Limited and is big enough to offer a third row of seating. Instead, the Tiguan Limited will stack up, size-wise, against vehicles such as the Honda HR-V. Granted, even the HR-V provides slightly more passenger and cargo volume than the Tiguan Limited.

But while the outgoing Tiguan/incoming Tiguan Limited is old and small, recent demand hasn’t reflected those facts.

2016 was the Tiguan’s best U.S. sales year ever by a wide margin — sales jumped 74 percent between 2014 and 2016, alone. The Tiguan’s best ever sales month came in December of last year when 5,575 were sold.

That wasn’t enough to make the Tiguan a mainstream choice in the compact crossover sector. Numerous small luxury brand utility vehicles can sell distinctly more often than that. But it highlighted Volkswagen’s ability to, like every other automaker, sell SUVs if there are SUVs to sell (and if the price is right).

The price of the 2018 Tiguan Limited, Automotive News says, won’t be known until late June. It’s Volkswagen’s intention to severely limit the number of models in the Tiguan Limited lineup. Volkswagen Canada, for example, sold the City Golf and City Jetta as de-contended entry-level compacts with subcompact-aping prices and were sufficiently popular for Volkswagen to provide the cars with a mid-cycle facelift.

Volkswagen Canada’s plans for the first-generation Tiguan may not be identical to Volkswagen of America’s.

“We are presently working on a Canadian version and hope to announce details in the coming weeks,” Volkswagen Canada media relations manager, Thomas Tetzlaff, told TTAC earlier today.

Here’s hoping Volkswagen Canada skips the Limited naming scheme. Consumers are prone to link Limited with top-spec models, but this Tiguan Limited is actually going to be a lower-spec version of the old model.

City Tiguan? Nah, that doesn’t make sense for a utility vehicle.

Country Tiguan. There it is. The 2018 Volkswagen Country Tiguan. Like a rugged, utilitarian, farm implement in Saskatchewan.

Regardless of the badges, the old Tiguan’s protraction, the new Tiguan’s arrival, the Touareg’s continuity, and the ramping-up of the Atlas effectively doubles the size of Volkswagen’s SUV/crossover lineup over the span of mere months.

A version of this feature first appeared on thetruthaboutcars.com

The post The Old Tiguan is Sticking Around, but Why? appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2rIs7ai
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as...
Post a Comment
Read more

T-Prime Makes World Premiere at Beijing

[ See image gallery at www.vwvortex.com ] The SUV segment is one of the fastest growing segments in the world and Volkswagen is showing the world how to do it. With the new T-Prime Concept GTE that was revealed today, the company is showing off all of the technology you can look for in its coming models. The T-Prime is a full-size hybrid SUV that can go up to 31 miles on a charge and gets 87 mpg. The hybrid power station is good for 375 hp and 516 lb/ft of torque and puts the power down with 4MOTION all wheel drive. It’ll get you up to 60 in six seconds. The concept’s real party piece, though, is its interior, which features exclusively touch, gesture, and voice controls. Everything from the infotainment, to the display, and even the gears are controlled by touch-screen. The T-Prime Concept GTE is bigger than the Touareg, and design elements are likely to find their way into all of their SUVs, of which there will be many. Volkswagen is also announcing that they expect to make an S...
Post a Comment
Read more

Audi Teases the e-tron’s Headlights Ahead of LA Reveal

Audi will unveil its new electric car, the e-tron GT, in just a few short days, but until then, it will do what manufacturers can’t help but do and will tease it mercilessly. The latest teaser images first appeared on Germany’s Bild , and feature some of the EV’s lighting. While the taillights look reasonably familiar, albeit on an interesting, angular surface, the headlights feature a heretofore unseen light shape. The X-shape (or maybe an R-shape, from the right angle) in the middle of the e-tron GT’s headlights set it apart from the rest of the lineup, even the e-tron SUV (whose lights look R8-ish with their angular check-shaped top line.) #Sneak Peek: the #Audi #etron GT concept – stay tuned for the big #world #premiere on November 28. pic.twitter.com/NIg0z6bIwR — AUDI AG (@Audi_Press) November 25, 2018 The long and low sedan will be based on the same platform as the Porsche Taycan, which is said to hit 60 mph in just 3.5 seconds and whose batteries will all be stowed...
Post a Comment
Read more