VW Tiguan to get three-row version?

The Volkswagen Tiguan is starting to get a little long in the tooth, and the German automaker is reportedly already deep in development on the second-generation model. If rumors prove true, Volkswagen may be keeping a big secret when it comes to the new compact crossover. Company insiders speaking to Autocarclaim that there are both five- and seven-passenger versions of the next Tiguan in the works. It raises an interesting question about the future of the larger Crossblue concept, though.

According to the sources, the five-passenger, second-gen Tiguan is about a year away from its debut at the2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. The new CUV rides on VW's MQB platform, and its size is roughly the same as the current model. The even bigger news from the insiders hits a few months later when a longer-wheelbase, seven-passenger Tiguan with three rows of seats is unveiled at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show.

Here's where it gets confusing: VW CEO Martin Winterkorn announced at the 2014 Detroit show that the Crossblue was coming to the US in 2016. In concept form, it also used the MQB platform and seats seven. It seems rather odd for an automaker to introduce a pair of three-row CUVs on the same chassis in the same year in the US. Although, it's possible that this could just be a name change for the production Crossblue, it doesn't seem likely. It could also be that Tiguan's third row will be a much smaller, occasional-use only sort of proposition, in much the same way that Nissan now offers its Rogue compact CUV with three rows, yet it also markets the much larger Pathfinder (though admittedly they aren't on the same chassis). 

Source: autoblog.com