2028 VW ID.Tiguan Preview.

The new VW ID.Tiguan EV will replace the good old ID.4. It will be introduced in Europe next month, with sales starting early next year. And probably as a 2028 model in the US. At least that’s the current plan.

Things are in flux at VW, and things could change any day. Case in point: the “slightly revised” 2027 ID.Buzz EV will now have to wait until next year for its US re-introduction as a 2028 model. So who really knows what will actually happen to US sales of the new ID.Tiguan.

Don’t expect anything like a new platform or anything. The EV range will probably increase but not by much. What is new is what you see: a new design and a new interior. Which will look like most other current VW models. With a giant screen in the middle and a smaller one in front of the driver. And a new row of physical buttons under the larger screen.

VW even confirmed the return of a round volume knob, saying: “If you develop something that works, and it has worked for years, there’s no reason to replace it.” This is, of course, coming from the same company that famously replaced traditional buttons with touch sliders.

The new ID.Tiguan looks a lot like a new VW EV for the Chinese market called the Aura T6. So close that it would be very strange if there were not related. However, the T6 uses a platform engeneered by Xpeng in China. So who knows…

The illustrations above are based on VW own photos of an actual ID.Tiguan prototype and, like it or not, they are probably at least 95% close to the real thing.

I’m not sure such a conservative design will actually bring that many new buyers compared to the ID.4. I don’t think the design was the car’s main problem. Maybe VW’s reputation for producing unreliable cars is more to blame. Or the multiple recalls ID.4 owners had to endure over the years.

Something a new design and name would not really be able to fix.