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• Volkswagen is said to be planning an all-electric version of the Tiguan for 2026.
• The current model will in the short term be updated with gasoline engines for a third generation.
• The names Tiguan and Golf will survive the electric shift at Volkswagen, likely with the ID tag attached.
The electric ID lineup at Volkswagen is set to expand as the automaker ramps up its transition to electric vehicles. According to German outlet Handelsblatt, the company plans to produce an all-electric version of the Tiguan that will keep the name with the letters ID as a prefix.
The target for having that EV ready is 2026. It should be noted that, although the information was shared by a Volkswagen spokesperson, the details are for Europe. We'll have to see what Volkswagen has in store for North America. However, since we're talking about the Tiguan, which is a very important model for VW in Canada, we can assume that what's good for Europe will be good for our market.
In the immediate term, we do know that Volkswagen is preparing the arrival of the next generation of the Tiguan. The current model was redesigned for the 2018 model-year. The coming third-generation model will be equipped with combustion engines and possibly a plug-in hybrid configuration (yet to be confirmed for our market). Since an electric variant is also in the plans, this means that the models would sit side by side in the lineup.
Of course, the two would only have their names in common, since they wouldn't be sitting on the same structure. The gasoline-powered Tiguan will be built on the MQB platform, with the electric version using the MEB-Plus architecture designed for EVs. The all-electric Tiguan will go into production in 2026 and will be built in Germany, at the company’s Wolfsburg plant.
All this leaves us with a lot of question marks, as we have no idea at the moment of the company's plans for North America.
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What is known is that Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume has already confirmed that the Golf and Tiguan names will survive the electric era, in Europe anyways. We'll also have to see what happens to the current Golf, which is seeing its sales plummet around the world. An electric version would revive the Golf nameplate’s fortunes.