Toyota Fortuner is arguably the most dominating SUV on Indian roads. With sales figure reaching over 950 every month, the Fortuner in most preferred as entry-level luxury SUV. Since its launch in India over 3 years ago, the Japanese SUV has eaten into the sales of Chevrolet Captiva, Hyundai Santa Fe, Ford Endeavour and Mitsubishi Pajero.
However, this is about to change as the Germans are buckling up, as reported by Auto-motor-und-sport that the next gen Tiguan will challenge the Toyota Fortuner in emerging markets. Based on the Volkswagen’s flexible MQB platform that underpins most VW next-gen cars, the new Tiguan will feature as a three-row extended wheelbase SUV.
In addition, the new Tiguan will be more beefed up and target the emerging markets that are currently dominated by Toyota Fortuner. Sitting at 55 cm higher than the current version, the new Tiguan will feature as a three-row SUV owing to 15-20 centimeters extended wheelbase.
There is no word on the power plant, however, the new Tiguan is expected to sport a TDI and TSI engine, followed by a plug-in hybrid variant. Moreover, the new Tiguan will feature a more trust worthy, German quality stiffness, safety and fuel-economy.
VW has confirmed the price of the Extended wheelbase version as quoted $40,000 (about Rs 20 lacs). Despite the extra weight on the wheels, the Tiguan will sport the same engine as the smaller sibling.
In addition, the next-gen Tiguan could also feature as a cross-coupe that was previewed at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show and at the more recent 2012 Geneva Motor Show. It is designed to target the youth who are driven towards the sporty and high riding appeal of the Range Rover Evoque and BMW X6. With lesser off-road ability and more SUV style quotient, the cross-coupe is said to feature a diesel-powered plug-in hybrid.
Production of the next-gen Tiguan is scheduled for Feb 2015. It is also interesting to see that in the upcoming years, Skoda will roll out an SUV in the likes of Tiguan, based on the German’s modular platform.
[Source: www.auto-motor-und-sport.de]