Volkswagen Tiguan Facelift at Guangzhou International Automobile Show?

China’s Guangzhou International Automobile Show brought a surprise from Volkswagen and its Chinese Partener Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. At the show which started on Monday, the Germans presented a revised version of the Volkswagen Tiguan dedicated to the Chinese market.

The Tiguan sold in Europe and North America looks a lot different from the one presented at Guangzhou. Volkswagen’s Tiguan for the Chinese has a new grille that extends to the headlights and a re-profiled front bumper. The interior shows a new three-spoke steering wheel and a redesigned instrument panel.

While the press release from Volkswagen Shanghai was not very clear on whether this model is a Chinese-spec or not, we can’t help but wonder if the official pictures show a facelift which will soon be announced in Europe and North America. We have to take into consideration that Tiguan’s production started in the winter of 2007 in Wolfsburg, Germany, while sales started shortly after, so the looks of the model can’t possibly be considered old.

Volkswagen Tiguan is a compact CUV built by the German automaker based on the platform of the Mk5 Golf. A rebadged version of the Volkswagen Tiguan under the SEAT brand, SEAT Tribu, is expected to go on sale in the first half of 2010 . The Volkswagen Tiguan was announced at the 2006 Los Angeles International Auto Show as a concept vehicle. The production Tiguan was released at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, and debuted as a 2008 model for Europe and in North America as a 2009 model.