Volkswagen Tiguan Launched In Malaysia

Volkswagen Group Malaysia (VGM) today unveiled VW’s compact SUV, the Tiguan – one of the most successful SUVs in Europe. Earlier this year, the Tiguan was named SUV of the Year by readers of ‘Off Road’, a German trade journal. The Tiguan was also voted No.1 in the ‘Off-Roaders and SUV’ category at this year’s Auto 1 Trophy by more than 40million readers in the Auto Bild Group.

Speaking at the briefing, Mr. Andreas Prinz, Managing Director, VGM said, ” Since its global launch at the Frankfurt Motorshow in 2007, the Tiguan has been a clear market leader among SUVs in Germany; successfully capturing a significant share in key markets in Western Europe.”

He went on to add, “We are excited to offer the Tiguan to Malaysians as it represents the sporty image of the Volkswagen brand and thus, meets our objective to provide a comprehensive portfolio of Volkswagen cars to our customers.”

Volkswagen AG offers the Tiguan in three variants – Sports & Style, Trend & Fun and Track & Field but for the Malaysian market, VGM will be offering the ‘Track & Field’ Tiguan which is equally able of tackling mud and slopes as it is to cruise and impress in the city.

The Tiguan is the worlds first SUV on the market fitted exclusively with turbocharged TSI and FSI engines.  In Malaysia the Tiguan is powered by a new 4-cylinder 2-liter 200hp 16 valve turbocharged direct injection petrol engine, the most powerful unit in the Tiguan line-up which  also includes a 1.4-liter unit for European models.

The Tiguan (a combination of the German words Tiger (“tiger”), and Leguan (“iguana”)), is equipped with 4motion full time all-wheel-drive, 6-speed automatic gearbox with Tiptronic and 17″ “Boston” alloy wheels. Other high-tech features also find their way into the SUV such as, a Parallel parking assistant or Park Assist (the first SUV to offer such a system) including Park distance control (Park Pilot) function which is offered as standard for the Malaysian market; an ‘off-road’ mode offers the ability to activate mud and slope tackling capabilities at a touch of a button; electronic stabilisation program (ESP) with driver steering recommendation and anti-locking brakes system (ABS) plus brake assist system; curtain airbag system for front and rear passengers including side airbags at the front and driver’s; and front passenger airbag with front passenger airbag deactivation.

The VW Tiguan is truly a “fully-loaded” SUV and does not have any direct competition in the Malaysian market. And to add to its already impressive ratings, just this month the Tiguan was among four Volkswagen models awarded the best grade of “top safety pick” in the most recent publication of the independent US safety institute, “Insurance Institute for Highway Safety”. It had also achieved the full 5 star Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme) for safety.

So how much does such a SUV cost? A very Malaysian RM249,888 for Peninsular Malaysia and RM252,888 in Sarawak.