Volkswagen will roll out its new NFS, MQB, MLB and MSB kit architectures to Brazil, Volkswagen do Brasil chief Thomas Schmall told Automobilwoche [sub]. The first representative will likely be a very small SUV, based on the UP! NFS (New Small Familiy) architecture.
Volkswagen brought a concept car to the São Paulo International Motor Show. Tongue-in-cheek, the 3.86 meter short SUVlet was called Taigun, a jumble of the name of the larger brother Tiguan.
The four-seater is powered by a new 1.0-liter TSI engine with 81 kW / 110 hp. The three-cylinder gasoline engines sports direct fuel injection plus turbocharging, and propels the lightweight (985 kg) concept car to a top speed of 186 km/h. Its combined fuel consumption is said to be 4.5 liters per 100 km.
Don’t expect AWD from the Taigun. “The NFS chassis is not designed for this,” Volkswagen R&D chief Ulrich Hackenberg said.
If the SUVlet appeals, then it will be built in Brazil and exported worldwide. Automobilwoche thinks it won’t happen before 2015.
Volkswagen is already notorious for excessive parts sharing, so it’s perhaps logical for it to extend this practice to the names of its cars as well – use the same letters, just in slightly different order depending on the model.
“Taigun”, as probably everyone can see, is an anagram for “Tiguan” (just as “Routan” and “Touran” are anagrams, and the latter is not that dissimilar from “Touareg”).
The official line is that “Touran” comes from Tour + Sharan (the bigger VW van not sold in the US, originally because of a non-compete agreement with Ford).
I always thought “Sharan” was a fitting name, because it seemed to allude to the fact that the entire van was *shared* with Ford – a “SHARed vAN”, if you like.
Yeah the name reminds me of Cajun, the baby Porsche project name. The front headlights look nice but the rest is a tad over styled. What ever happened to “maturity?”
I know that this is a concept but aside from the interior it looks quite production ready
Mix it a bit and you can get something that sounds vaguely obscene in our language… then again, the first syllable already sounds like our word for merde…
I like the idea of tiny SUVs, but only when they’re capable. Things like the Samurai, Rocky, Vitara even. But what’s the point of this? It just seems to be a “because I can” product.
I like the new badge they’ve put on the Dacia Duster; should add a solid $5k to the asking price.
Lol! So sad, so true.
Marcelo, tell me it doesn’t look like a New Variant II to go with the 2013 Fusca…
Oh why did you say that? Now I’ll just remember the Variant whenever (and IF) I see the car on the streets!
I like the front, don’t like the sides and wheels, and the back needs some more imagination (though I like the relatively clean lines).
With 110HP, 4.5l/100kms, good ground clearance and a reasonable price tag, I could see this vehicle selling well even if it was never offered in the G8 countries. But not without AWD.
To me, it looks like a Juke from the side. Styling aside, if it comes here, they won’t sell more than a handful north of the Mason-Dixon Line without an AWD option.
It should also be 5 seats. People here don’t like 4-seat objects unless they’re sporty/convertible.
This VB is just like what the next Scion xB should be:
FWD. Compact. Tall. Economical. Affordable.
Very nice.
MOAR POWA!
How about putting in the new 1.4 Turbo hybrid system from the Jetta? More power, still decent fuel economy, and a general image booster for VW.
What an abomination! Forget what I said about the boring family feeling, just fix that front grille!
Look at all that glass, the sightlines are wonderful. They’ll have to fix that before they sell it here.
“Look at all that glass, the sightlines are wonderful. They’ll have to fix that before they sell it here.”
And then sell you a navigation/safety system as a high cost option.
On top of it all the design is way too coherent and tasteful for something that small. They better fudge the proportions and give it cartoonish features or else it might steal some sales from the models higher up!
I don’t know what’s worse, alphanumeric names or these Ningyoushi toy names that VW is putting on their cars…
Another terrible Volkswagen name, but hey, VW always knows better.
They should have named it the Dasher.
Really sharp looking. But if the Tiguan taught us anything, the production model won’t look anything like this.
The guidelines of what is considered an SUV become more and more lenient as the years go by. Pretty soon the SMART ForTwo will be considered one…