Volkswagen Tiguan R announced for Europe, and the door remains open in the U.S.
The Volkswagen Tiguan R is not coming to the U.S. right now. Volkswagen announced the full-on R-badged crossover for European consumption, but VW has no intention to bring it stateside yet. That said, Hein Schafer, Volkswagen Senior VP Product Marketing and Strategy has left the door slightly open for a Tiguan R in the future.
“It’s unfortunately not in the cards yet,” Schafer said on a call with journalists. “I can tell you that we’ve had numerous discussions about them and to be quite honest some of those discussions are still circling … we do want to find a way, and we’re all working very hard to find a way to get some of that [R] magic cascaded onto our SUVs. So, we are working on certain plans. I cannot confirm anything as of yet, but hopefully in the mid-term to long-term future we will hopefully see maybe an R version at the top of the lineup, but nothing confirmed as of today.”
The Tiguan R in Europe is packing 315 horsepower and a “new all-wheel drive with selective wheel torque control.” VW calls it “R-Performance Torque Vectoring,” and it’s capable of distributing power variably both front to back and side-to-side. Volkswagen is keeping the rest of the details close to its chest.
For some perspective, our Tiguan only has 184 horsepower. We also have the long wheelbase version of the current Tiguan, whereas Europe is treated to the shorter Tiguan. That being the case, a Tiguan R makes much more sense for Europe since it’s based on an inherently sportier base crossover. Regardless, a Tiguan with more power would be a splendid addition to the lineup in America that we’d welcome with open arms.
Now, for those interested in something greener: If you were looking for a hybridized Tiguan, check that one off your list. Schafer threw some cold water on the chances of a plug-in Tiguan coming here.
“We’ve looked at potentially a hybrid solution,” Schafer said. “I honestly do believe that our group hybrid technology is really good and really strong, however it’s not affordable, and looking at the investment and the amount of cars we may sell and try to invest in Puebla (Tiguan manufacturing facility) to try and put that hybrid technology into the car versus the number of cars we may potentially sell, that business case just unfortunately doesn’t pencil. So as it stands today, we’ll stick with the existing powertrain, and then potentially for the Tiguan’s successor we may evaluate other alternatives. In the existing product announcement that we’re discussing today, no plans for a plug-in hybrid or a normal hybrid.”
Europe, once again, is allowed to purchase a Tiguan with a plug. That version makes 241 horsepower combined, but until VW completely redesigns the Tiguan, don’t expect to see it in any form here. For all the new details about the 2022 Tiguan, check out our reveal post here. All the photos of the regular Tiguan can be found below.
