Volkswagen Tiguan Concept Unveiled

November 29, 2006 – 9:14 am by Dan Volkens
Filed under Concepts, Featured, Volkswagen Tiguan

Coming soon to a Veedub dealership near you, the new Tiguan, the Touareg’s baby brother (or sister if you like). Rumors have VW introducing it to the market near the end of next year, although I haven’t heard any pricing estimates myself yet. If you want one, start saving your pennies now.

My take 1: Exterior
While I’m not too hip on the orange color scheme, I dig its aggressive stance and scowling frontend. I can’t say that there’s any one thing that really jumps out at me and says, “Here I am, I’m ugly!” The proportions seem to be well balanced.

My Take 2: Interior
Aside from the odd “concepty” touches like the leather dashboard piece, there’s not too much spectacular about it. It looks clean and orderly like a typical VW interior, and from the one photo we have, it seems the designers took some cues from the IROC concept for the door pull area. I’m not feeling the silver accents around the vents. And speaking of the vents, something seems off about them. Maybe they’re too big, too round?

The photos:

* Photos courtesy media.vw.com

Delving into some details from the VW press release:
The concept car being presented in Los Angeles is powered by a “Clean TDI” that is an entirely new development – a diesel engine of the next generation. In this diesel of the future Volkswagen will employ a modular concept of different systems to once again significantly reduce emissions. One of these powertrain systems includes a NOx storage catalytic converter and as a whole reduces nitrogen oxides by up to 90% compared to engines known today.. The “Clean TDI” from Volkswagen will satisfy the strictest emissions standards in the world.

The “Clean TDI” introduced in the Concept Tiguan is also one of the first components of the BLUETEC offensive initiated jointly by Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. The goal of this partnership is to establish the concept of BLUETEC as a uniform label for clean and low consumption cars and SUVs with diesel engines. BLUETEC denotes diesel drives that comply with even the strictest emissions regulations of the US market. The technologies used and individually developed by each manufacturer serve to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) in particular – the only exhaust components that lie above the rates of gasoline engines due to the conceptual design of diesel engines. The BLUETEC partnership was recently started in the course of the LA Auto Show.

“It was very important to us to have the car appear powerful. Muscular. For us that had a higher priority than anything else”, explains Klaus Bischoff, Head of the Design Centre in Wolfsburg. Bischoff continues: “An offroader needs a long hood and an upright position. That lends the vehicle self-assuredness and power.”

And that has consequences: The Concept Tiguan comes across as self-assured, with high value, grown-up, astute. It transfers the Touareg idea of a highly capable touring car and SUV into another class. The Tiguan does not stop where normal tracks end. But it does not acquire this talent at the cost of refined street manners, rather it masters the ride through both worlds – of asphalt paths and nature’s paths. The design of the Concept Tiguan, specially built for the auto show in Los Angeles, makes precisely this clear.

Front End
A typical, familiar, congenial Volkswagen. Yet everything is new, further developed. The lead exterior designer Klaus Bischoff: “We gave the insignia front grille a powerful contour.. Although we have taken a step forward, we still retain the same symbols introduced on our new models of the recent past.”

Silhouette
Nothing less applies to the silhouette of the Concept Tiguan. Here too clarity and power dominate the forms, and here too there is no detail that is random in appearance or not thought out to its conclusion.

Rear End
Typical of Volkswagen is the design of the rear end. Here too the description is: Typical and yet completely different. Typical, because the basic construction of the taillights follows that of the Eos or Passat variant, and they are part of the powerful shoulder section.. Different, because the overall design takes new directions, the steep tailgate extends far into the bumpers and is a design component that joins classic, pure SUV elements to contemporary, urban forms.

Interior
In the interior the study holds to the colors black, silver and orange. Black components include the leather seats, the instruments, some of which are also trimmed with a vintage style leather, the door trim and leather steering wheel. Silver: The instruments themselves as well as the door handles, inside and out. Orange: All leather seams and the orange tire stripe pattern integrated in the center seat panels. The reason that a friendly atmosphere prevails in the Concept Tiguan in spite of the dark interior equipment lies not only in the interior design but in the transparent 1.34 meter long and 0.85 meter wide panoramic sunroof.

Volkswagen Tiguan Concept Unveiled
November 29, 2006 – 9:14 am by Dan Volkens