New Volkswagen Tiguan here next year

UPDATED: 6:45pm 08/07/2015: Fresh spy shots of Volkswagen's next Tiguan -- in standard-wheelbase form -- have just arrived in our inbox. Enjoy.

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Volkswagen will soon reveal the replacement for its seven-year-old Tiguan ahead of its world debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September, and it will be followed by two larger new SUV models that have now also been confirmed for Australia.

Spy shots of the next-generation Tiguan emerged only recently, confirming the second-generation compact SUV will grow considerably in size.

As we've also reported, however, the new Tiguan will also form the basis for a long-wheelbase seven-seat version for the first time, as well as a sleek four-seat 'coupe' version previewed most recently by the plug-in Cross Coupe GTE at this year's Detroit show and likely to be called the Tiguan CC.

Volkswagen Group Australia (VGA) chief John White yesterday confirmed the new Tiguan five-seater will go on sale here late next year, and that it will be joined in local showrooms by the LWB and CC models from 2017.

"The new Tiguan will be shown at Frankfurt and we'll get it by the end of next year," he told motoring.com.au at yesterday's launch of the new Skoda Fabia.

Asked whether the seven-seat and coupe versions will also be sold here, he said: "Of course. The long-wheelbase will come in 2017, followed by the coupe."

White also alluded to an all-new VW SUV positioned beneath the Tiguan, but he has previously ruled out the Volkswagen up!-based Taigun for Australia.

We understand a production version of the Polo-based T-ROC concept is in development and will be sold here if it is produced in right-hand drive and offered to VGA in a suitable specification, but that's unlikely to happen before 2018.

In the meantime, a replacement for VW's largest SUV, the Touareg, is also approaching its global release next year, and its Australian release in 2017.

An all-new seven-seat VW SUV to be built in Tennessee from late 2017 will not be produced in RHD and therefore won't go on sale here, but the T-ROC, the expanded Tiguan family and the new Touareg will give Australians access to no fewer than five Volkswagen SUVs – up from two currently.

For Volkswagen, the broader SUV range will allow it to cash in on Australia's booming SUV market, in which it will eventually have a model in every segment to rival top-sellers like the Mazda CX-3 and CX-5, and upcoming replacements for the CX-7 and CX-9.

All of them will be based on Volkswagen's latest MQB platform architecture, and the all-new Tiguan LWB will join a growing number of mid-size SUVs to spawn a larger seven-seat version, including the Nissan X-TRAIL, Mazda CX-7 and Honda CR-V.

The current Tiguan was launched in Australia in 2008 and, apart from a facelift that also heralded the arrival of a cheaper 2WD version in 2011, has not really offered any major changes since then.

Even in standard five-seat form, the new Tiguan will be larger in all dimensions including wheelbase. It will again be built in Germany, while the three-row 'Tiguan XL' will enter production in Mexico from late 2016, aimed directly at the North America market but not Europe or China.

The new MQB platform should contribute to reducing the current Tiguan's relatively hefty 1642kg kerb weight without affecting its generous 2.2-tonne braked towing capacity, while power will come from VW's latest four-cylinder turbo petrol and diesel engines.

Australia's SUV sector is up almost 14 per cent so far this year, with SUVs accounting for nearly 35 per cent of the total market. But while Touareg sales rose more than 50 per cent following a recent upgrade, Tiguan sales are down 4.2 per cent in a small SUV segment that's boomed by almost a quarter in 2015.

In addition to five SUVs by the end of this decade, Volkswagen will also introduce Alltrack crossover versions of the Golf (due here in September) and this year's new Passat (due in 2016), while Skoda's Yeti compact SUV will be joined by the Czech brand's first seven-seat SUV in 2017.