GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: VW to hatch small SUV

Discontent with revealing the production version of its second-generation Tiguan mid-size SUV the night before the Geneva motor show on March 1, Volkswagen is about to unveil a smaller SUV based on its light-sized Polo hatch.

Not to be confused with the pint-size up!-based Taigun SUV (pictured), which is built in South America and has been ruled out for Australia, the T-Cross concept car is being fast-tracked into production to take on successful small crossovers from Nissan and Mazda.

While the concept car will be based on the five-door Polo, the T-Cross won’t share any panels with the hatch because Volkswagen plans to make it one of two global small SUVs, both of which are likely to be on stand-alone small models.

The other will be based on the T-ROC concept revealed at the 2014 Geneva show — a uniquely-bodied crossover based on the Golf’s architecture that will sit between the T-Cross and the Tiguan in the production line-up.

While the T-ROC will be in production next year, the smaller T-Cross car will be in showrooms by 2018 at the latest, according to Volkswagen sources, and neither of them will look anything like their donor hatchbacks.

Volkswagen is planning to keep the high-riding Alltrack version of the Golf alongside the two new T-branded crossovers. The new Passat Alltrack goes on sale in Australia next month.

From a near-standing start, Volkswagen is about to pursue an aggressive SUV strategy, with both T-models also slated to get plug-in hybrid powertrains alongside petrol and diesel power.

While the T-Cross concept will be based around the Polo, the production car will be on the smallest version of the Golf’s flexible MQB architecture, rather than the Polo’s smaller, older platform. It will still deliver roughly the same footprint as the Polo, so expect it to measure around four metres long.

It will be available as both a front- and all-wheel drive, with an off-road package as an option to deliver a more aggressive look.

Contrary to reports out of Germany, Volkswagen will not reveal its facelifted Golf 7 at Geneva, but will more likely wait until the Paris show in September.

Therefore – unlike the new Tiguan, which is due here by the end of this year – Australians are unlikely to see the upgraded Golf, let alone the T-ROC or T-Cross, until 2017.