If you think the Golf is Volkswagen’s best-selling vehicle, think again. Last year, that record goes to the Tiguan compact SUV.

Sold in 80 percent of all countries on earth, 910,926 units of the Tiguan were made in 2019 making it the best-selling vehicle in the entire Volkswagen brand and Volkswagen group. Not only is it the most successful compact SUV in Europe, but it’s one of the three post popular SUVs in the world. In fact, it’s the top-selling model in four time zones across three continents.

Volkswagen reckons that a Tiguan rolled off the production line every 35 seconds at one of the company’s Tiguan factories last year. This fast rate of production reflects the rapid development of the Tiguan. Introduced to the world for the first time at the Frankfurt Motor Show back in 2007, it’s seen a meteoric rise since then. A significantly updated version of the best-seller was unveiled in 2011. It was a resounding success: the annual Tiguan volume subsequently broke the 500,000 barrier for the first time.

In 2017, Volkswagen introduced a long wheelbase version which gave it another major sales boost. Today, 55 percent of all Tiguan models leaving the production line sport the extended wheelbase.

The Tiguan is currently manufactured at four Volkswagen plants across four time zones, thus ensuring almost round-the-clock production. It’s produced at the main plant in Wolfsburg, Germany; in Kaluga, Russia; in Shanghai, China; and in Puebla, Mexico.

In just two generations, the Tiguan has become one of the most successful SUVs in the world selling 6 million examples. This year, the next chapter will unfold with a major technical and visual update, including a plug-in hybrid version for the very first time.