JAMAICA’S automotive landscape got spruced up with Wednesday’s introduction of the 2018 VW Tiguan Allspace.

The SUV’s unveiling, witnessed by a selection of guests, took place at ATL Automotive’s Volkwagen showroom on Oxford Road in Kingston.

“The VW brand is no stranger to the streets of Jamaica… And after today’s event we’re confident there’ll be more admirers and owners of the all-new VW Tiguan Allspace. Why? The answer is simple: It’s a game changer. There is no other competitor that offers such a comprehensive package of value, utility and high level of standard… In fact, Cars.com recently announced it is the best compact SUV,” Mike Ellenthorpe, ATL Automotive’s managing director, told the gathering.

“The new Tiguan Allspace has even more space and room for up to seven people. The Tiguan is bigger and better than ever before. Thanks to its superior handling and advance safety technology systems, the new Tiguan not only takes you on new adventures, it’s an adventure itself,” he continued.

The new VW Tiguan is redesigned and reimagined from the ground up. Its bold character line runs from front to back, conveys chiselled strength, while its hood contours deliver a memorable statement up front.

It is nine inches longer than its 2017 counterpart, so there’s more room for everyone to travel in style.

Christopher DaCosta, VW’s head of business at ATL Automotive, had an opportunity to test-drive the vehicle in Chile. He nothing but praises for the new SUV.

“It was amazing. The car rides like you’re on a cloud. The drive modes that take you off-road… it has the power, it’s smooth. The car is something that offers what I call ‘The Personification of Value’. It offers so much more for so much less. How it does that? It gives us so many features. Some of these features are things like seven seats in a five-seater world. Wow, that’s unusual: Priced at a sub-compact SUV level for a premium SUV size. Volkswagen has listened to us, Volkswagen has listened to you. You wanted more space, you got it. You wanted more features, you got it. Five years warranty. These are the things you want that are included in this,” said DaCosta.

“How about our special introductory offer starting at $65,000 a month? You can have one of these. This is the king of jungle, king of the road, king of the off-road,” DaCosta added.

The new Tiguan Allspace comes in two engine options: 1.4-litre, super turbo charged; and the 2.0-litre turbo charged. The latter, a four-wheel-drive, has a boost of 180-horsepower, while the former is a two-wheel-drive and packs 150-horsepower.

The 2.0-litre on display came with a myriad of features. These include: multi-function display, eight-inch infotainment system, bluetooth connectivity, park distance control, park assist, multi-function steering wheel, rear camera, panoramic sunroof, App Connect, 3D LED tail lights, and LED highlights.

“It comes with Bi-Xenon headlights with adaptive lighting function, which means the lights will adjust with the cornering to give you ‘daylight at night’ at any angle. It also has LED daylight-running light and fog lights with cornering assist; what the cornering assist does, when you turn the wheel to the left, the left fog light comes on and help illuminate that direction and vice versa,” Jordan Weller, sales controller, told Jamaica Observer’s Auto magazine.

And what about the safety features?

“VW has always prided themselves on always having five-star safety rating. Safety starts right at the front; from the five-mile powered bumper — which if anyone rolls into your bumper while parking, it will deflect it and push them out and ease them off with no damage to your car. Crumple zone in the car to deflect impact around the cabin instead of into you, the engine is set at a 45-degree angle, so if there’s a front collision, the engine falls down. Airbags galore in the car. Four-channel ABS braking with four-way disc brake, so there’s stopping power for the power the car has so when you get up to speed at the 180 horse power, when you need to stop the car will stop. The intelligence crash response system is a feature of Volkswagen that they’re really proud of. It’s a myriad of system that activates in case of a collision where, if it’s a front collision, the steering column will disengage so that steering wheel won’t come into your chest. The gas tank will disengage automatically so it reduces the chances of a fire, hazards lights will flash automatically to warn people around that something has happened, and doors will unlock so you can get out of the vehicle. Those are few of the safety features,” he said.