Volkswagen often invokes the climes and cultures of North Africa for its products' names: Toureg -- the name of VW's goodly sized off-roader -- is borrowed from the aboriginal people of the Sahel. Scirocco is a withering desert wind. This is a curious practice since the Germans had a decidedly mixed record in North Africa.
The name Tiguan, attached to the company's new compact utility vehicle, is faux exoticism, splicing together the words "tiger" and "iguana." I wish I could have been at the product briefing where executives -- including Dr. Moreau, I guess -- explained how this cute-ute, as they are called, combined the attributes of a fierce jungle cat and a lazy decorative reptile.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, August 03, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 30 words Type of Material: Correction
Volkswagen: The Rumble Seat column in Friday's Business section about the 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan incorrectly spelled the name of the Volkswagen Touareg, another vehicle in the company's fleet, as Toureg.
In fact, the Tiguan combines the attributes of a VW Rabbit, the compact runabout with which it shares its platform, and the larger Passat. (That would make it a Rabat, wouldn't it? Isn't that a city in Morocco?)
Fractionally smaller than the Honda CR-V, the Saturn Vue and Toyota RAV4, the Tiguan is an urban-friendly, ski resort-capable wee truck with optional all-wheel drive, backed up by VW's great 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder. Outdoorsy and athletic -- think the ponytailed shortstop on a women's collegiate fast-pitch team -- the Tiguan looks like it could handle itself on a muddy infield.
Truly, though, the Tiguan's saving grace is its fortuitous slowness. Several years late to the cute-ute party, the Tiguan hits the market precisely as buyers are leaping out of mid-to-large utes and crossovers like they had VD in their glove boxes. This broad-based impulse of car buyers to go smaller and thriftier -- call it demi-sizing -- can only help the Tiguan. It's the fresh face in a crowd of mini-utes, so it feels like the car of the moment.
An aside: What I've noticed about demi-sizing in readers' e-mails is the desire not to find incrementally better fuel economy -- say, five miles per gallon better, or seven -- than their current car, but to double their fuel economy. I've probably gotten 50 e-mails from people saying they won't buy any vehicle that offers less than 40 mpg. I had previously discounted the theory of peak demand -- which argues that a fundamental shift in Americans' love of petroleum has occurred, irrespective of the price at the pump -- but now I'm not so sure.
