Volkswagen Gives The Tiguan A Do-Over, But America Has To Wait

In much of the world, the Volkswagen Tiguan ranks among the more popular small SUVs and family haulers; last year, VW built more than 500,000 of them. But here in the United States, the Tiguan has proved a tough sell; small and expensive by American tastes, in the face of a platoon of worthy alternatives.

The car you see above is VW’s salvo at making the Tiguan up to date worldwide, as revealed ahead of the Frankfurt motor show today. But while the face of the Tiguan will be the same globally, VW has gone to some lengths to create a more American (and Chinese) version of the compact SUV — one we’ll have to wait a bit for.

The new Tiguan rides on the MQB chassis that VW wants to use in most of its future vehicles. Bigger inside and out, the European Tiguan offers a choice from eight engines, up to a 236-hp twin-turbo 2-liter diesel, with gains of up to 24 percent in fuel efficiency. (Those diesels also provide a tow rating of more than 5,000 lbs. in select trims.)

Inside, the Tiguan can be spec’d to a near-luxury state, from panoramic sunroof to massaging seats to inductive cellphone charger, along with all the requisite safety software. In addition to the road-ready versions, VW showed off a concept plug-in hybrid Tiguan, with 215 hp and 31 miles of electric-only range. These versions are for everywhere except the United States and China, where VW says it will show off a longer-wheelbase version of the Tiguan in the fall of 2016 — a long wait to close a gap that keeps growing.