Volkswagen Drops Tiguan Prices By Up to $2,200

The move is an attempt to “conquest customers” in the highly competitive segment, according to a report from Automotive News.

In a notice that was sent out Thursday, VW told dealers that it’s cutting the sticker price for base model S trim Tiguans by $600, cutting the price for the SE trim by $2,180, and the SEL trim by $1,460. Prices for the highest SEL Premium trim, though, remain unchanged.

That brings starting prices down to $25,495, $27,650, and $31,990 for S, SE, and SEL trims (in FWD), respectively. The SEL Premium trim, with all its whizbangery, remains at $37,150.

The new Tiguan premiered this year and played a big role in VW selling seven percent more vehicles this year than last. That said, though, it didn’t sell as well in December as the Tiguan it replaces.

SEE ALSO: 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan Review

Part of that might come down to the fact that VW is still selling the Mk1 Tiguan as the Tiguan Limited (whose $22,860 starting price remains unchanged).

Regardless, taking a bigger piece of the lucrative compact crossover segment is central to VW’s growth plan. According to Automotive News, the segment grew 6.2 percent last year and with sales of non-SUVs slowing in inverse proportion.

Despite that, though, VW remains a relatively small player in the segment. With sales of a little over 21,000 new Tiguans last year (though it only sold for the half the year), it is far outmatched, sales-wise, by Toyota, Honda, Ford et al., which all sold more than 100,000 compact crossovers last year.

A price drop, along with plans to build a Tiguan variant, should help VW take a bigger slice of the compact crossover pie than it currently is.

A version of this story originally appeared on VW Vortex

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