Even though buyers of the new Volkswagen Tiguan may have to drive a Golf until their Tiguan arrives in January 2009, the new Tiguan has generated enough buzz and interest replacing the Toyota RAV4 as Europe’s best-selling SUV.

According to Volkswagen, the company sold 34,179 units in the first five months, beating the Toyota RAV4 which has been Europe’s favorite SUV for the last six years. Toyota RAV4 sales slipped 28 percent to 32,703 through May. Seems like its time to do a major update to the RAV4.

With the Tiguan’s good-looks, self-parking system and an architecture based on the popular Golf, no wonder its stealing attention from the leaders. We’d like to know how it stands up to the Honda CR-V.

The 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan is on sale now in the U.S. with a starting price tag of $23,200.

2009 Volkswagen Tiguan:

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)