VW to keep old Tiguans with new ones

Volkswagen will rip a page out of Nissan’s playbook when it launches its redesigned, larger Tiguan this summer by keeping the current compact crossover around as a value play under a slightly modified name.

The 2018 Tiguan — which is about 10 inches longer and features available third-row seating — will keep the crossover’s name and available trim levels, while the previous generation will live on as a single trim under the name Tiguan Limited, said Jeff Ng, Tiguan product manager at Volks- wagen Group of America.

Nissan followed a similar strategy when it redesigned its Rogue compact crossover for the 2014 model year, keeping the previous version through the 2015 model year as the Rogue Select.

Pricing for the redesigned Tiguan and the Tiguan Limited will be announced this month, a VW spokesman said. The redesigned Tiguan is being built in Puebla, Mexico, while the Tiguan Limited will continue to be built in Germany.

Ng (pronounced “Ing”) said VW believes that there is ample room in the crowded compact crossover segment for both versions of the Tiguan. “The segment is huge,” Ng said. “There’s a broad range of price points, and we think with this new car, we can still offer the current Tiguan as Tiguan Limited for customers that are looking for different content, different size and different price.”

Once renamed, the Tiguan Limited will maintain a “simplified offer structure” with low order complexity making it easy for dealers to keep in stock, Ng said.

“The Tiguan Limited that we see now [at U.S. dealerships] is selling very well, and with both cars in such a huge segment, we really have a product for a much broader segment of customers,” Ng said. 

Through May in the U.S., Tiguan sales are down 13 percent from a year earlier and Volks- wagen brand sales overall are up 6.9 percent.

Tiguan’s redesign onto VW’s flexible MQB platform is part of a strategy by the brand to expand its product offerings in North America beyond its traditional lineup of sedans and hatchbacks. It follows on the launch this year of the Atlas full-size crossover, which also features three rows of seating and is being built in Chattanooga.