Volkswagen has teased a new SUV concept badged the T-Cross, prior to its debut at the Geneva motor show 2016. The new SUV concept from the German automaker previews a Polo-based production SUV, which will be an entry-level model in the company’s SUV line-up.


A part of the company’s volume-segment SUV strategy reportedly fast tracked by VW chairman Matthias Müller, the T-Cross will join its larger Golf-based sibling, the T-Roc, which is expected to make its debut in production guise later this year.
“We will position production versions of the T-Cross and T-Roc underneath the Tiguan and Touareg in a part of the market that is currently experiencing large growth for SUV models, including Europe,” said a manager at VW.



Sitting on VW’s MQB platform, the T-Cross along with its larger sibling are planned to be offered with a range of powertrains which consist of petrol, diesel, or plug-in petrol-electric hybrid drivetrains, together with front-wheel drive and four-wheel-drive options.
The teaser images released by VW show a high-riding concept with LED elements in the headlamps and large square-shaped LED daytime running lamps surrounding the fog lamps. Other features noticed in the teaser images were that the model wore body cladding and featured a skid-plate on the front bumper.
VW had been planning an even smaller entry-level model, called the Taigun, with the concept being showcased at Auto Expo 2014. But the company has now abandoned plans for reasons that the Taigun small SUV felt “too small” and that the financial climate in key South American markets, where VW planned to manufacture the SUV, was unstable.

Celebrating a 40th birthday is a big deal, so as the Volkswagen Golf GTI hits that milestone early next year, Volkswagen will introduce a high-performance Clubsport version of the hot hatch. Making its public debut next week at the Frankfurt auto show, the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport will be sold in Europe but will be verboten to U.S. customers. The car was previewed earlier this year by the Clubsport concept shown at the annual Worthersee Volkswagen festival.

The eagerly awaited Ford Figo Aspire is not the only sub-4m compact sedan that is headed our way. Also being readied for an innings the likes of the highly successful Maruti Swift Dzire is a compact sedan based on the highly successful Volkswagen Vento sedan. The Volkswagen Vento compact sedan will become the first offering from the Indian subsidiary of the German auto major in our country’s small sedan market. Speculations abound that the upcoming Volkswagen Vento compact sedan would be sold under the ‘Bora’ or the ‘Derby’ moniker and would be unveiled at the 2016 Auto Expo. Alternatively, the car could also go on sale simply as the ‘Polo Sedan’. Here, in this post, we have put together all the available details of the Volkswagen Vento compact sedan along with a speculative image to give you a better idea of the upcoming model.

Launch

The Volkswagen Bora/Vento CS could be launched in the festive season of 2016. As we just said, it is already being speculated that the compact sedan would make its public debut at the 2016 Auto Expo early next year.

Price

Being smaller and considerably less premium than the full-sized Vento, the Vento-based compact sedan is likely to hold a significant price advantage over the bigger sibling. Prices of the Volkswagen Vento sedan could start at INR 5.40 lacs and could go up all the way to INR 8.20 lacs. While the Vento CS might not play the pricing game with the Tata Zest, Hyundai Xcent and the upcoming Ford Figo Aspire, it is likely to come across as a value for money proposition for those hoping to drive a home a VW sedan.

Specification

Quite obviously, the Vento CS aka Bora aka Derby will share its motors with the Polo hatchback, which means it would come with a 1.2-litre petrol and a 1.5-litre diesel engine options. Volkswagen India has commenced the local assembly of the new 1.5-litre TDI turbocharged diesel engine to benefit from lower cost of manufacturing. The Vento CS is also likely to have the same wheelbase as the Polo. The upcoming model has been internally code-named as the ICS (Indian Compact Sedan) by the boffins at VW and from the looks of it, the upcoming model will be only about 10 kgs heavier than the Polo hatchback.

Design

Much like most cars in this segment, the Volkswagen Vento compact sedan could look like a truncated version of the full-sized sedan. However, our belief is that the car will look a lot better proportioned than most of its rivals and could get a new set of headlamps, taillamps, a new front grille and new design alloy wheels to have a unique visual identity.