Volkswagen is firing a crossover on car land that is less new than you might think. This is the Taigun, a compact crossover that we already know in Europe in a slightly different form.
Anyone with an elephant memory may remember the name Taigun from the eponymous concept car that Volkswagen presented in 2012. That study model was a preview of a compact crossover that Volkswagen would eventually add to its delivery range. It turned out to be a very early harbinger of the car that we now know as T-Cross. In February last year, Volkswagen suddenly showed another concept car in India with the name Taigun, a very production-ready looking model this time. The Taigun has now been presented in production form.
The Taigun, like the concept car presented in 2012 with that name, is related to the T-Cross. In fact, the model is in fact nothing more than the variant of the T-Cross intended for the Indian market. The Taigun Concept presented last year had a different face than the T-Cross as we know it. In fact, it is practically the same as the Chinese T-Cross, the version with an extended wheelbase and a slightly different design. The wheelbase of the Indian Taigun is 2.65 meters, just like that of the Chinese T-Cross, ten centimeters longer than that of the T-Cross. The total car length of the Indian Taigun is also, at 4.21, ten centimeters longer than that of its European brother.
Volkswagen Taigun
The final production version deviates only in detail from the Taigun Concept from 2020. The car, whose name is an anagram of ‘Tiguan’, has to do without a cheerful print on the C-pillar and now features type names. The Taigun model name is written at the bottom of the tailgate, the 19-inch wheels on the concept car have been replaced with more subtle 17-inch models and the side mirror caps are – yes – painted in body color. Under the skin, the slightly cheaper version of the well-known MQB Ao platform, which is called MQB-A0-IN, is intended for the Indian market. The car is equipped with a 115 hp 1.0 TSI, but will also be available with the 1.5 TSI of 150 hp.