All Internet Resources

Volkswagen’s Concept Tiguan is very close to what the company will put into production as a 2008 model. Ignore the concept’s oversized 275/45 tiger-striped tires and showy panoramic roof, and you’re looking at VW’s next five-passenger compact SUV. You might have seen this before. Earlier this year in Berlin, Volkswagen provided some clues to the Concept Tiguan’s styling in the Concept A.

Look deeply at that concept’s front-end sheet metal and you’ll see the strong commonality to this Tiguan. The Concept Tiguan is equal in length to the Jeep Compass, but is nearly 5 inches narrower. With a split-folding rear seat, it can still swallow your 8-foot-long surfboard inside.

This engine is one of the first non-Mercedes applications of the Bluetec exhaust aftertreatment lovefest among automakers Audi, Benz and VW. Rather than jumping on the hybrid bandwagon, the three German automakers are banding together to make the Bluetec label a general description for modern diesels that meet U.S. emission standards. Whatever. As long as these modern diesels are available in all 50 states, they could call it “Bean Pie” for all we care. VW let readers of a European magazine come up with the name “Tiguan,” which is supposed to sound exotic.

The Germany Volkswagen is to unveil a diesel-electric hybrid Golf capable of returning an astonishing 83.1mpg and emitting just 89g/km of carbon dioxide.

This isn’t Volkswagen’s first hybrid: it experimented with a trial petrol-electric fleet in the early 90s and it has been developing diesel-electric units for some years (one took part in the 2004 Challenge Bibendum eco-car rally in Shanghai).

This is the first near-production example, however, and the first of many.

New technology will be used in a many of Volkswagen Group models, including the Jetta saloon - which sells in greater numbers in the US than the ‘Rabbit’ - and the Audi A3.

The diesel-electric powertrain has been developed specifically with the US market in mind, and California in particular.

As well as the Euro 5 emissions criteria, it will meet the US BIN 5 requirements for sale in all 50 states.

Volkswagen will launch the production-ready Scirocco coupe in Geneva, alongside an E85-compatible Passat Ecofuel and a low-consumption Sharan Bluemotion.

The Passat CC will also be seen in Europe for the first time.