Volkswagen confirms Aussie Tiguan and Tayron PHEV investigation

A decision is expected within months whether the new Volkswagen Tiguan and Tayron will join the medium SUV rush to plug-in hybrid powertrains.

The third generation of VW’s top-selling Tiguan arrives on-sale in Australia this month powered only by turbo-petrol engines.

The Tayron, essentially a stand-alone replacement for the popular seven-seat Tiguan Allspace, is expected in Australia before the end of 2025.

Its Australian launch powertrain line-up has not been announced yet, but overseas – like the Tiguan – it comes with mild hybrid, diesel and petrol plug-in hybrid (or eHybrid in VW-speak) as well as turbo-petrol offerings.

It’s the eHybrid that has the executives in charge of the local Volkswagen passenger car line-up (which includes SUVs) interested.

“We are investigating, let’s say, for ourself to investigate coming in with a plug-in,” confirmed director of Volkswagen passenger cars PierGiorgio Minto.

“Could be that by the end of the year we will have some information … about that.”

PHEV and range extender hybrid SUVs have had a big bump in popularity in Australia as buyers opt for a halfway house solution between orthodox engines and pure battery electric.

The BYD Sealion 6, Jaecoo J7 SHS and Mazda CX-60 and CX-80 have all arrived recently to join the Mitsubishi Outlander in the medium SUV PHEV sub-segment.

In Australia the fringe benefits tax exemption has provided a big boost for PHEV sales, but that ended April 1.

Sales dropped dramatically in April, but remain well above the same period 12 months ago, suggesting an ongoing customer interest in PHEV SUVs.

For auto companies, PHEV also adds extra ammunition in achieving targets under Australia’s increasingly stringent new NVES CO2 reduction scheme.

In Australia, VW’s passenger car line-up has to this point jumped straight from orthodox powertrains to full electric with the ID.4 and ID.5 (ID.Buzz is under VW commercial’s control). The only current plug-in hybrid offered locally is the Touareg R eHybrid SUV, priced at $133,490 plus on-road costs.

As recently as the April Shanghai motor show, VW’s global sales, marketing and after-sales board member Martin Sander told media that VW anticipated a long future for the internal combustion engine and anticipated PHEV, including range extender technology, would be critical to its viability.

Asked the Australian implications of that, Minto told carsales: “We believe there is a fair chance for us for the plug-in, and definitely they are under investigation.”

Asked specifically about Tiguan and Tayron, which both include 1.5-litre turbo-petrol eHybrid plug-in overseas models with a claimed electric range up to 120km, Minto added: “They are two of the models with the plug-in that could play a role here … We don’t close the doors to any models, we check a little bit of everything.

“There is a lot to pick up in a big [automotive] group. At the end of the day we also need to have the business case, otherwise it does not make any sense.”

Tiguan was the top-selling VW in Australia in 2024 while the Tiguan Allspace was number four in the line-up.

While Tiguan and Tayron shape as strong PHEV candidates, the recently updated Golf small car does not.

That’s despite both a GTI-equivalent GTE hot hatch and mainstream eHybrid five-door being sold overseas.

“Golf playing in a smaller [sales] segment means it’ s not going to be right at the top of our priority list,” said Arjun Nidigallu, Volkswagen passenger car’s head of product.

“We’re looking at it, nothing to confirm.”

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