Volkswagen has announced that it will be launching an all-electric version of the Tiguan SUV as a replacement for the ID.4.
While the Tiguan has seen sales slipping a tad in recent years, it remains a popular model for VW. This is likely at the core of what’s driving the name change, since we’re betting the new model has much more in common with the ID.4 than the current version of the Tiguan.
“More than 8.3 million Tiguan vehicles produced demonstrate the strength and trust associated with this model name,” said Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars. “The Tiguan represents a versatile, premium vehicle and embodies the essence of True Volkswagen. With the ID. Tiguan, we are carrying this product promise into the electric future. The all-electric model builds on the strengths of the bestseller and offers premium design, generous space, intuitive operation and innovative technologies. Together, both models form a strong offering for our customers’ different powertrain preferences.”
The whole thing is slightly confusing. Americans actually receive the longer wheelbase version of the Tiguan (pictured below) that initially launched on the Chinese market using a totally different name. The European Tiguan is smaller and cannot be had with third-row seating. One supposes that the forthcoming ID.Tiguan won’t be making those kinds of distinctions any easier to explain.
Volkswagen has shown off the new ID-branded model wearing some very light camouflage, providing us with a fairly clear view of what the bodywork will look like. Like many VW models, it’s reasonably attractive. But one imagines that it won’t be the appearance of the ID. Tiguan that determines its success.
Volkswagen has enjoyed a fairly long history of fielding inoffensive, sometimes even timeless, vehicle designs. Tasteful restraint resulted in exteriors that looked less dated as the years rolled on and smartly laid out interiors that didn’t need to rely on gimmicks to help sales. Despite VW’s focus on practical transportation, models often punched above their weight class by also being relatively engaging to drive.
The Volkswagen of today has tragically sacrificed some of the above to chase modern trends and reduce overhead costs. For example, those formerly intuitive cabins have given way to a more minimalist aesthetic that prioritizes screen space over physical controls. The issue has actually reached a point where the manufacturer is attempting to walk things back after a surplus of negative feedback from customers.
But these are issues the whole of the automotive industry is confronting at present. None of that makes Volkswagen uniquely bad or risks totally destroying everything it does right when designing an automobile. What has arguably hurt VW the most is its pivot to all-electric vehicles — at least when it comes to North America.
Several of Volkswagen’s electrified ID models suffered from extremely messy launches that were further complicated by software issues and electrical gremlins. Some of these even led to recalls.
As previously mentioned, the company has also been making revisions to tempt drivers into ID models. For instance, the ID. Polo has undergone an interior revamp to include more physical buttons on the steering wheel. This is presumably going to carry over to electrified cars sold in America since we’ve also seen VW doing the same on some of its combustion models. But we have doubts that it’ll change the temperature on how our market responds to EVs overall.
The all-electric ID. Buzz was clearly designed to evoke feelings of nostalgia from older Americans who fondly remember the microbus era of VW vans. However, the model has flopped here. The company even elected to skip entire model years, due to an overwhelming lack of demand. Meanwhile, the elimination of government subsidies (specifically the EV tax credit) has made its already high price tag even less attractive than it already was.
Whereas the original VW van was a small, slow, affordable, and indefinitely repairable (thanks to mechanical simplicity), its modern electric equivalent seems to be none of those things. It just targeted the demographic that would have fond memories of the older model.
It’s hardly the only EV to underperform here. The ID.4 was supposed to become the brand’s mainstay electric on our market. But lackluster volumes have resulted in Volkswagen ending production of the SUV in Chattanooga, Tennessee, earlier this year.
We now know that the ID.4 will be replaced by the new ID. Tiguan. Volkswagen even released materials suggesting that the model may just be receiving a name change. Visually, it looks like the combustion Tiguan with less ground clearance and a handful of exterior design tweaks. But we doubt it shares much in common with that model and presumably uses the same MEB-based skateboard platform as the automaker’s other all-electric models.
However, nothing has been confirmed on that front yet and won’t be until the model formally debuts in October. Europe will understandably take priority in terms of customers getting first dibs. But it’s eventually supposed to go on sale in North America. Volkswagen said it would provide additional details on the U.S. specifications in the months ahead.
[Images: Volkswagen]
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