Volkswagen's expanding SUV strategy

Next Tiguan to field an Evoque rival and tiny Taigun a remote chance for Oz, but seven-seater ruled out

The global sales success of the Touareg and Tiguan has led Volkswagen to return to the well for other SUVs to join the range.

Since the manufacturer unveiled its Cross Coupe show car (pictured) two years ago in Tokyo, the SUV concepts have come thick and fast. And virtually all of them are set to go into production. According to Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, however, they won't all come to Australia.

Dr Hackenberg is a member of the board of management at Volkswagen, and is also Executive Vice President. He was out here last week on a flying visit coinciding with the launch of the new Golf 7, and spoke with the local press on a number of subjects, including the future of SUV development at Wolfsburg.

Starting with the smallest, the Taigun that was unveiled at the Sao Paulo motor show late last year, the situation has changed since motoring.com.au last spoke with Volkswagen Australia's former MD, Anke Koeckler. Ms Koeckler was all in favour of the Taigun coming to Australia if it went into production. It now looks like it will go into production, but the prospects of it being sold in Australia are looking more remote.

Ms Koeckler's successor, John White, told motoring.com.au during the same round-table interview with Dr Hackenberg last week that he thought the Taigun might be too small for buyers in the local market.

"We saw the Taigun with our product planners in Wolfsburg in March – [at an] open day – and our initial reaction was that it would be too small for the market," he said. "We believe there's a [niche] for a small SUV in the market; the question is 'how small?"

Indeed, that is precisely the conundrum VW faces with the Taigun. It has received acceptance and praise in South America and looks practically certain to go into production, says Dr Hackenberg, but VW's management is of the opinion that, at under four metres in length it's just too small for markets elsewhere – and not just Australia.

"It's a concept [built] specifically for the South American market... they're very interested in it; it's a good chance [to go into production]," said Dr Hackenberg, who rated the percentage probability of Taigun production at somewhere "between 50 and 100 – so positive."

"But maybe it's a little bit too small," he continued. "There's no segment in this size. [Vehicles in the segment] are a little bit bigger. We have to see, if we do it, whether we grow it a bit to [fit] a segment that's already there, or we make a new segment."

When it was put to him that Ford's decision to bring the EcoSport to Australia suggests that the Blue Oval believes there's a market for such a diminutive SUV. The Ford example is not completely relevant though, the VW executive suggested.

"EcoSport is bigger; it is four metres twenty. This car in India... is under four metres, but it has a spare wheel fixed [to the tailgate]. Taigun was three metres 75.

Dr Hackenberg responded similarly to the Holden Traxx and Opel Mokka. Both GM products are built on the same platform and both cars will be larger and longer than the Taigun. In fact, according to Dr Hackenberg, the GM models will be significantly larger.

"Mokka is bigger. Mokka is huge..." he said. VW has mapped out a sweet spot for small SUVs like the Taigun and, at 4.28 metres long, the Mokka aint there.

"There's one segment which is four metre 15 – so between four metre 10 and four metre 20 there is a segment..." Dr Hackenberg explained. "We know that there is a segment, so we are looking at such a segment for a small SUV."

The Volkswagen boss left the end result for Taigun up in the air. It's possible the production model will be stretched to reach that 4.15-metre long footprint – in which case there's more likelihood it will come to Australia. One thing is certain however, VW won't be building a follow-up to the Taigun concept car – which is further supporting evidence the car will go into production.

Dr Hackenberg also mentioned that the Cross Coupe concept will reach production as a variant based on the next-generation Tiguan.

"[CrossCoupe] was based on the next Tiguan," Dr Hackenberg explained. "We have presented [it] as a preview to Tiguan, but the reaction of the media – and also the customers in a clinic – was quite positive. So we could imagine it may be a derivative [of the next Tiguan]... so we're actually looking at whether it makes sense to have it in addition."

There's already a vehicle in the market that is a model for the production Cross Coupe to follow, Dr Hackenberg admitted – and it's a vehicle that has been both a commercial success and a critical one.

"Actually there are not so many competitors, but if you look [at the Range Rover] Evoque, it's quite a sporty SUV... quite successful and a small, sporty shape. It's not as functional as a Tiguan, for example...

"If you look at Tiguan customers, they are very function-oriented... they like to sit high and use the car for everything and have [plenty of luggage] and [carry] sporting goods, whatever.

"Maybe there is another cluster of customers that are not so function-oriented... there might be a segment that is looking more for emotion – and less for function."

Naturally the Cross Coupe – or howsoever the production model will be named – it will need a mainstream model to underpin it.

"We definitely will have a Tiguan successor..." Dr Hackenberg declared.

There's no timeframe officially announced yet for either the new Tiguan or the Cross Coupe variant, but logically the latter will follow the former to market.

"The Tiguan will be one of the next MQB cars, so I can't tell you exactly when we will launch it, it's too early... but we are working on it."

In fact the new Tiguan is reportedly the next major project to be based on Volkswagen's MQB (modular) architecture. The new Tiguan may grow in size, leaving more room between it and Taigun below it, which makes an SUV to fill the gap between Tiguan and Touraeg unnecessary – or at least that's how we read Dr Hackenberg's following remarks.

"I don't think so, between Tiguan and the Touareg is fine..." he said, "[but] what we are looking for is a big SUV in China or America... like the [CrossBlue] presented in Detroit.

At this point, John White interjected with the observation, in case there were any misapprehension, that the CrossBlue concept is "actually bigger than the Touareg..."

"It's bigger and has a totally different position," Dr Hackenberg agreed. "It's only for specific markets, it's not for markets all over the world..."

Dr Hackenberg effectively ruled out the CrossBlue production model for right-hand drive markets, not so much due to technical problems with swapping the wheel from left to right so much as RHD markets aren't the sort of markets VW would target with the seven-seat SUV. That means a production version of the CrossBlue Coupe revealed at last week's Shanghai motor show even less likely to reach Australia.

Finally, motoring.com.au asked Dr Hackenberg whether we could expect to see an SUV based on the Amarok commercial vehicle.

"That's Volkswagen commercial..." he said, implying that he was not across that side of the company's product development activities. So his comments are more a personal viewpoint than corporate gospel as such. Nevertheless, he did offer reasons why such a vehicle would be unlikely to receive due consideration.

"If you were to go to this market you would need a production line that is closer to the market. Amarok is built in South America and Hannover. So the markets looking for such a car are low-cost markets. South America... is too expensive [as an export base]," he concluded.

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Volkswagen's expanding SUV strategy

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