Australian Tiguan waiting list slashed

CUSTOMERS stranded on a waiting list for the Volkswagen Tiguan are experiencing a rare upside to the global financial crisis.

Global supplies of the compact SUV had been restricted due to its overwhelming popularity, causing the Australian waiting list to blow out to more than a year in some cases, but the financial downturn has freed up new stock.

With demand dropping in Europe, Volkswagen Australia has been able to secure enough cars to wipe out the waiting list.

“We were upfront when we launched Tiguan that we had no production in November and no production in December, and all of a sudden we got 700 cars in December and I think 500 in November because other countries dropped out but we still had an order bank,” said Volkswagen Australia managing director, Jutta Dierks.

She said some petrol Tiguan customers would still have to wait a little while for their cars, but said more were coming.

“We have plenty of supply now and we have 900 cars (just arrived) in the country,” she said.

The availability of Tiguan supply means VW Australia can start to promote the compact SUV, but says it will only do so after the launch of the latest version of its best selling car, the Golf, at the end of this month.

“We have not advertised Tiguan. We have not spent one single dollar advertising Tiguan so we could do that quite soon, probably after the Golf to leave some space,” Ms Dierks said.

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