We were surprised when Volkswagen announced last year it will continue to sell the ageing first-generation Tiguan, which has a design dating back to 2007, alongside the new 2018 model in North America. Renamed the Tiguan Limited, it initially had an enticing starting price of $22,860 including the destination fee. Admittedly, the base model wasn't very generously equipped, but its budget price tag made it more affordable than the entry-level version of the new model. However, the price increased to $23,150 for the 2018 Tiguan Limited.

That meant the old model wasn't much cheaper than the brand new one, so it seemed hard for Volkswagen to justify keeping it in its lineup. But this year will be the Tiguan Limited's last year on sale in North America. In an email sent to Cars Direct by company spokesman Mark Gillies, Volkswagen confirmed the compact SUV will be discontinued at the end of the year and won't be returning in 2019. At $23,150, the Tiguan Limited is around $2,300 less than its better-equipped, more modern sibling. Configuring it with options that put it on a par with the base model Tiguan S also only makes it around $500 cheaper.

There's also only one option available for the Tiguan Limited compared to the multiple configurations available or the new model, and there's no advanced safety tech you would expect to find in a modern family-focused compact SUV. The Tiguan Limited's demise isn't surprising when you look at its sales figures compared to the new model. Despite its lower asking price, Volkswagen only managed to ship 7,732 units of the Tiguan Limited between May 2017 and May 2019. Compare that to the current-generation model, which found 38,314 buyers in the same period. Last month, only 1,355 examples of the Tiguan Limited were sold, whereas the new Tiguan attracted 8,579 buyers.