Volkswagen surprised its viewers at the Taigun launch with news of two new cars coming to India, a five-seater version of the Volkswagen Tiguan and the VW Virtus Sedan. The Tiguan will receive a facelift while the Virtus will likely replace the Vento in the Indian market.
The Tiguan facelift
Volkswagen was supposed to launch the Tiguan facelift in March 2021. However, the launch was delayed due to Covid. Now, the company has rescheduled the launch to November.
Previously only a CNG variant of the Tiguan was available. The facelifted version of the Tiguan is to be petrol-only. The 5 seater SUV will come with a 2 l turbo petrol engine, and the engine provides up to 190PS and a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.
The facelift will be based on the new VW design language and have similarities in appearance with the Taigun. VW will replace the old headlights with sharper-looking ones, and the car will get new taillights and a new bumper design.
Once inside, the Tiguan will have the same private lounge-like feel as the Taigun with a thirty colour ambient lighting feature. A completely digital cockpit will replace the analogue dials from the pre-facelift version. The car also gets a new steering wheel featuring the new Volkswagen logo.
As always, the Tiguan will come armed with a host of safety features, including six airbags, ABS with EBD, front and rear parking sensors, electronic stability control, and tyre pressure monitoring.
The Volkswagen Virtus
Volkswagen has officially announced its plan of introducing an Indianised version of the Virtus. Unlike Tiguan, the official Virtus launch schedule isn’t out yet. Car manufacturing will begin in February next year, and it may take up to August for the Virtus to the market.
The Virtus is already available in international markets. Still, VW will introduce a localised version to the Indian market based on the MQB AO IN platform, designed exclusively for India. Volkswagen uses the same platform for its recently launched SUV, the Taigun. You may read about the MQB AO IN platform here.
The Virtus is to be bigger than the Vento already available in India. Given the dimensions of the platform, the new sedan will be 4,482mm long, 1,751mm wide and 1,472mm in height. The car will likely have the same powertrains as the Vento, with a 1.0-litre TSI turbo-petrol engine and a 6-speed gearbox with manual and automatic options. The 1.5-litre, four-cylinder TSI engine and a 7 speed DSG that power the Taigun could also be provided as an option for the performance range.
Also, read 6 Things You Will Only Find In Volkswagen Cars
