Double award success for Volkswagen

Mr. Hans-Dieter Keller, Managing Director of Volkswagen Middle East commented, "We are delighted with the global award success that we have had so far in 2008 especially with our new compact SUV, the Tiguan, winning the SUV of the Year.

The Tiguan impressively shows that it has the elements of a winner and we are confident that it will have equal success in the Middle East. The TechnoBest awards also confirm the international success of our innovative TSI engines. By using this concept Volkswagen has managed to combine maximum power with minimum consumption, a world first".

From the 20 nominated vehicles and attracting 17.4% of the votes, the Tiguan emerged as the readers' choice from the OFFROAD German trade journal, (ahead of its second and third-placed rivals the BMW X3 and the Land Rover Freelander).

In the exceptionally prestigious category of Luxury Off-Roaders, the Volkswagen Touareg won the number-two ranking amidst a field of eleven rivals for the award in this category.

In the continuously growing segment for off-road vehicles, readers of the OFFROAD trade journal could this year choose from a total field of 87 models made by 38 manufacturers for prizes in eight categories.

In addition to the fiercely competitive categories of Off-Road Vehicles and Luxury Off-Road Vehicles, SUVs and Luxury SUVs, there were also categories for Cross-Over Models, Classics, Pick-Ups and Special Vehicles.

Over 58,000 readers took part in this year's poll.

The TechnoBest prize in Istanbul was awarded by a motoring jury from the automobile markets of Eastern and Central Europe.

The jury said the Volkswagen TSI demonstrated genuine advancement in the field of petrol-engine technology.

The TSI engines combine a supercharger and a turbocharger and offer output of between 103 kW / 140 PS and 125 kW / 170 PS.

These twinchargers are already featured in the Volkswagen Golf, Golf Plus, Golf Variant, Jetta, Touran and Tiguan series. The benefit of TSI, in a nutshell, is that it affords maximum power at a minimum level of fuel consumption.

127,000 motorists around the world already have the TSI technology under their Volkswagen bonnets.

Volkswagen is the only carmaker to date to use this technology combination in mass-volume series engines.

The supercharger produces a lot of rpm pressure, and thus acceleration agility. Because TSI engines make do with a comparatively small amount of cubic capacity, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are significantly reduced.

Since their debut, the TSI engines have achieved widespread acclaim, winning the world's most prestigious awards - the "Engine of the Year Award" in 2006 and 2007 for example, and now this latest award, the "TechnoBest" prize for technology.