Volkswagen has just released an official design sketch, and a 45-second teaser video on their official YouTube channel for their upcoming SUV, their smallest to date: The Volkswagen T-Cross. The video switches between shots of blueprint sketches of the car, with Klaus Bischoff and Jürgen Stackmann (Heads of Design and Marketing at The Volkswagen Group, respectively) describing the car as “Compact. Versatile. Dynamic. Cool.”. The design sketch depicts the car (in red) as quite a powerful presence with a sleek finish, whereas leaked testing photos of the (sportier black and white) prototype T-Cross show a slightly more restricted design, falling in line with the idea of design sketches being exaggerations.
The SUV is expected to be engineered on Volkswagen’s MQB A0 platform, similar to other compact SUV’s (Arona) and some hatchbacks. This will allow the vehicle to be fitted with a variety of different diesel and/or petrol engines, and possibly even a plug-in hybrid. The vehicle will be based on the T-Cross Breeze concept car, which was unveiled in March 2016 at the Geneva Motor Show. The concept used a turbocharged 1-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine with 110bhp; the production vehicle is expected to add two turbocharged 4-cylinder engines to send power through the 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Performance is also said to be similar to the Breeze, which had a top speed of 188kmph and reached 100kmph in 10.3 seconds, it is more focused on being economical than a true off-roader. The leaked photos also display a version with 20-inch wheels and an alternate paint job, hinting that different trims will have varying design options.
View the teaser video here