Although it was believed that Volkswagen would sell a diesel-powered version of its Tiguan small SUV in the U.S., it looks as though those plans are on hold, at least for the time being. Strong European demand has the Tiguan factory running at full capacity and VW execs are worried that a diesel powerplant would inflate the SUV’s price beyond reasonable for the segment.
According to Winding Road, the Tiguan is proving so popular in Europe — where the SUV has now been on sale for several months — that customers are waiting months to take delivery. VW has already doubled Tiguan production, leaving virtually no capacity to carry a new U.S.-specific model.
In addition to capacity concerns, VW execs are also worried that the extra equipment necessary to make a TDI Tiguan 50-state legal would push its price tag well north of what customers are willing to pay. A base model Tiguan TDI would likely list from about $27,000, with prices topping off well into the $30,000s.
Although a diesel-powered Tiguan would improve fuel economy by 30 percent, most customers would likely balk at the high price of diesel, which would off-set any fuel savings.
If VW does decide to give a U.S.-spec Tiguan TDI the green light, it won’t hit U.S. showrooms until at least sometime in the next decade.
05/19, 1:35 PM
posted by:
400horseSS
Maybe because they cant screw customers for a diesel engine.
05/19, 1:39 PM
posted by:
Madcapp
VW has a super bad habit of stripping content from US spec vehicles, or just not offering good models at all (Manual R32, Scirocco). And they need to realize that is a bad way to run their business if they ever hope to regain market share that they gave away over the last 5 years.
05/19, 2:19 PM
posted by:
RaineMan
VW is probably right about the price of diesel driving customers away. Who cares if it gets 30% better mileage… diesel is gonna be $6/gal when gas hits $5.
05/19, 2:44 PM
posted by:
A4
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
05/19, 3:03 PM
posted by:
Stinky007
Diesels are already overpriced in Europe, where one can expect to pay about 1000 Euros (~1500USD) more for a diesel than a similar gas engine. People argue that the car is more economical so the difference will probably be recovered after some miles, but the truth is more complex than that. This might be true if you do not consider the fact that diesel engines have shorter service intervals. Also, each trip to the service will cost more than on a gas engine, even double in some cases. All in all, it’s very hard to quantify the amount of MONEY saved from buying a diesel, if ANY.
05/19, 3:24 PM
posted by:
howsmydriving
When has the fear of overpricing ever stopped VW before?
05/19, 4:18 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
In a roundabout way this is good for Chrysler as it leaves the Liberty and Grand Cherokee diesel alone in the non-behemoth SUV sweepstakes. They should stuff it in the nose of the Patriot while they’re at it.
05/19, 4:26 PM
posted by:
Get Real
Some suspect high diesel prices is to make this happen.
Oil company.
05/19, 4:41 PM
posted by:
xyunya
johnnycanuck, this is not easy even for Chrysler. The diesel Chrysler sources from M-B is expensive, so the price of vehicle goes up. They use to drop VM-Motori 4 cylinder into Liberty (Italian job), but GM signed VM to produce line of diesels for them, so relatively small factory will be busy. I never believed that VW can certify 4 cylinder diesel per new CAFE regulation. For crying out loud, they share one gasoline 4 cylinder engine between both divisions (VW and Audi). They don’t have that great engine design capabilities any longer. 5 cylinder engine in cheapest car (and not all that great output of 170 hp) is not sign of industrial creativity. It clear that VW would love to have a cheaper 4 cylinder engine and compete with Asian and American brands on price, but it cant.
05/19, 10:45 PM
posted by:
A4
umm what VW vehicle is overpriced?
05/20, 10:18 AM
posted by:
mayer_ray_nagin
LLN removed my anti-oil company post which was a very clean post. Gotta wonder why.