2025 Volkswagen Tiguan R imagined ahead of showroom arrival

A successor to Volkswagen’s top-selling R performance model in Australia so far this year is said to be on the way. Here’s what it could look like.

The Volkswagen Tiguan R – a mid-size family SUV with power, grip and differentials from the Golf R – is set to be renewed for a second generation following the success of the first model.

Introduced in Australia in 2022 – as part of the regular Tiguan’s mid-life facelift – the Tiguan R is the company’s best-selling performance model locally so far this year (with 1414 sales reported to the end of August), thanks in part to stronger stock levels in recent months.

As reported by Drive‘s European Correspondent Greg Kable in recent weeks, Volkswagen officials in Germany have indicated a second-generation Tiguan R is planned, using a revised version of the current model’s mechanicals.

It may become the last new Volkswagen R model with petrol power, before the performance division moves to electric power across its line-up by the end of the decade.

The next Golf – and by extension the Golf R – will be electric, and there will not be another Arteon (or Arteon R). While there will be another petrol-powered T-Roc – due in 2026 – it is unclear if it will offer an R version given it would have just four years to run.

Drive commissioned digital artist Theottle to create these illustrations of the next Tiguan R, based on the new, third-generation Tiguan R-Line unveiled last month.

New Tiguan R-Line.

As per the current model, the R is distinguished from the R-Line by more aggressive front and rear bumpers, larger wheels and brakes (with blue calipers), black and silver exterior highlights, a lower ride height, and R’s signature quad exhaust outlets.

Drive has reported power in the next Tiguan R is expected to come from an evolution of the current model’s 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, which develops 235kW and 400Nm in Australian models.

It is good for a 0-100km/h acceleration time of 5.1 seconds – or 4.9sec in Europe where a more potent 235kW/420Nm tune is offered.

The current Tiguan R benefits from the Golf R’s trick torque-vectoring rear differential, which can send all of the torque to the rear axle – which is a maximum of 50 per cent of the engine’s total output – to either wheel to aid traction out of corners.

Outgoing Tiguan R.

Arrival timing for the new Volkswagen Tiguan R is yet to be confirmed, however R versions of new VW models typically arrive one to two years after the standard versions.

The latest Golf R was unveiled a year after the regular Golf, the T-Roc R arrived 18 months after its standard sibling, and the Touareg R plug-in hybrid launched with a gap of two years.

The outgoing Tiguan R is an exception as it debuted with the second-generation Tiguan’s mid-life facelift in 2020, rather than the pre-update model in 2016.

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