Volkswagen Tiguan becomes the brand's best-seller, breaks 6 million barrier

Volkswagen Tiguan SUV has become the first model from the brand to break the six million production barrier. The company released a statement today, saying that it rolled out the six millionth unit of the brand's global best-seller.

A total of 910,926 units of the Tiguan SUVs were manufactured in 2019 alone. This makes the Tiguan the best-selling car in the Volkswagen brand and Group. On an average, a brand new Tiguan was rolled off the production line every 35 seconds in one of the company’s factories last year.

The SUV is sold across 80% of the countries worldwide. It is the most successful SUV in the European market. The Tiguan is also one of the three most popular sport utility vehicles in the world.

The world premiere of the first generation of the SUV took place at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt back in 2007. Later that year, the first Tiguan came into the market. Since then, the Tiguan SUV has enjoyed a meteoric rise.

In 2008, Volkswagen manufactured more than 150,000 units of the Tiguan, which was available with all-wheel drive or front-wheel drive. A significantly updated version of the SUV was unveiled in 2011. It helped the annual Tiguan volume to breach the 500,000 barrier for the first time.

The second generation of the Tiguan came to the market in April 2016. The SUV was now constructed using the Modular Transverse Toolkit (MQB) for the first time. It helped increase dynamic proportions and provided the template for an energetic SUV design. The interior was considerably roomier owing to the extra wheelbase, while new assist systems enhanced the vehicle’s active safety.

The product line was revamped again in 2017 with the debut of a second Tiguan Model– an XL version with a wheelbase extended by 110 mm, up to seven seats, and a bespoke design. The new version of the vehicle body gave the product line another major boost – 55% of all Tiguan models leaving the production line now have a long wheelbase.

In America, Volkswagen sells the second-generation Tiguan exclusively in its long version. In India, the European markets and in many other countries, the long wheelbase model was launched as the Tiguan AllSpace. The XLversion is sold as the Tiguan Lin China. In October 2019, Volkswagen added a plug-in hybrid drive to the range of engines available for the Chinese Tiguan L.

The Tiguan is currently manufactured at four Volkswagen plants spread across four time zones. The version with a normal wheelbase (NWB) is manufactured at Volkswagen’s main plant in Wolfsburg, Germany, for the markets in Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The Kaluga plant, situated 170kilometres south-west of Moscow, produces the NWB vehiclesfor the Russian market and for neighbouring Central Asian countries. In Shanghai, Volkswagen manufactures the TiguanL with a long wheelbase(LWB) for the Chinese market. In the Mexican city of Puebla, the LWB versionsof the Tiguan are produced for North and South America and for countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Volkswagen is preparing to launch the next chapter of the Tiguan success story with a major technical and visual update in 2020. One of the highlights will be a new additional variant with a plug-in hybrid drive(PHEV) for Europe.