GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: VW T-Cross Breeze

Three more SUVs — big and small — are about to join Volkswagen’s Touareg and new Tiguan, headed by its radical Geneva show premiere, the T-Cross Breeze convertible.

The Polo-sized baby crossover is officially dubbed a design study, but insiders have confirmed the car is headed to production as Volkswagen rolls out its plan to make up for its high-riding product shortcomings.

The roofless soft roader combines the smallest version of Volkswagen’s MQB modular architecture with styling drawn from the BUDD-e electric-car concept.

Its front-end is characterised by a similar theme to the BUDD-e, with a relatively enormous grille flanked by high-set, shallow headlights and filigreed daytime running lights beneath the headlights.

The sill line at the side runs up and over the rear wheels, which is a break in Volkswagen traditions and is likely to be replicated in the production car.

Sitting on 19-inch alloy rims, the T-Cross Breeze has custom alloy rims and a wide tailgate that promises easy loading for the cargo area, which is almost 300 litres.

They’ve accentuated all of the car’s external aluminium parts by sandblasting them, including the front and rear underbody protection pieces and the side skirts, while the cloth roof is a relatively conservative black in colour.

While it’s not likely to make production as a convertible, a hard-top version of the T-Cross will scuttle down Volkswagen’s production lines by late 2017 or early 2018.

The stunning little crossover concept car is roughly the same overall size as the production five-door Volkswagen Polo, with which is shares its architecture. That layout was a marriage of convenience to the T-Cross Breeze’s designers, though, and it will have the higher-volume MQB layout in production.

Volkswagen calls the T-Cross Breeze a melding of the SUV and Convertible worlds, delivering short overhangs and four seats.

It has tried to give it connectivity credibility as well as a fresh start in what it sees as a coming market for small SUVs. It has given the T-Cross Breeze a highly interactive cabin layout by employing development versions of the Volkswagen Group’s next generation of consumer electronics in the cabin.

Most surfaces are touch and pressure sensitive, replacing traditional buttons, dials and switches, and it’s gone after the cool set by using a 300-Watt BeatsAudio sound system.

There is still some conventional engineering in the T-Cross Breeze, too, with an 81kW direct-injection, turbocharged petrol engine providing the power.

“This open-topped Volkswagen enriches the world of compact vehicles with an entirely new automotive lifestyle,” Volkswagen brand CEO Herbert Diess insisted.

“Our T-Cross Breeze is the first open SUV in its class, while being an affordable, naughty Cabriolet with an elevated seating position for the perfect overview.”

“The T-Cross Breeze is a study, but we can imagine to bring such a convertible on to the market – an inexpensive fun car with high suitability for everyday use,” he explained.

Volkswagen also used the Geneva show to explain its rollout of SUVs, which will leave the company with a range of five and with engine variants ranging from 1.0- to 3.0-litres.

It has already begun with the large Touareg, which is about to be followed up by the smaller, mid-size five-seat Tiguan, then the three-row, seven-seat Tiguan XL. The production versions of the T-Cross and then the Golf-sized T-Roc will follow, plus it will continue with higher-riding Alltrack versions of the Polo, Golf and Passat.

“The T-Cross Breeze is a teaser for our compact sport utility vehicle,” Volkswagen design boss Klaus Bischoff explained.

“The T-Cross Breeze reflects that we want to delight people with the New Volkswagen.

“In this case we do it with a class in this unprecedented vehicle concept, a completely redesigned cockpit and an equally crisp and expressive style.

“We have pulled out all the stops and one of the most exciting four-metre SUVs on wheels in the modern age,” he said.

At 4133mm, the T-Cross Breeze is marginally longer than the CrossPolo and sits on the five-door Polo’s 2565mm wheelbase. It’s a lot wider than the Polo, though, with the body 1798mm wide (without the mirrors) and the roofline sitting 1563mm above the ground.

It’s not all short-term fairytale, using the 175Nm version of the 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, complete with variable valve timing and direct fuel-injection.

It also has idle-stop, plus an energy recuperation mode, and it drives the front wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Production versions are expected to come in both front- and all-wheel drive, with the option of five- and six-speed manual transmissions.

The 1250kg concept will urge itself to 100km/h in 10.3 seconds, with Volkswagen nominally giving it a 188km/h top speed.

It also claims the car is good for 5.0L/100km on the NEDC cycle, emitting 115g/km of CO2. Its 40-litre fuel tank gives it a theoretical range of 800km.

Bischoff also insisted the T-Cross Breeze was Volkswagen’s first big step towards building a car with no internal switches, thanks to an array of pressure-sensitive touch and gesture control systems for the multi-media system and the air conditioning.

“It’s not science fiction, because the T-Cross Breeze already sets out the operating concept,” he said.