Next-generation Volkswagen T-Roc R locked-in
High-riding Golf R based test mule spied testing overseas confirmed as next-gen T-Roc RThe next-generation Volkswagen T-Roc R small SUV is locked and loaded, with disguised test mules already lapping the Nurburgring.
Speaking to carsales at the national media launch of the updated Golf R last week, VW R Global Head of Sales and Marketing, Pedro Martinez Diaz, confirmed a high-riding, widebody Golf R prototype spotted in March was indeed the next iteration of the brand’s high-performance compact SUV.
Diaz said he’d already been probed by German media about the camouflage-free test mule and answered definitively: “We got a question from a journalist in Germany, if we’re going to launch a new Golf Safari, but we said no.
“This is T-Roc [R].”
The global exec explained the ‘BS’ lettering on the test mule’s number plates stood for ‘Braunschweig’; a city close to Wolfsburg and home to many of the brand’s prototypes.
“You see it’s a little bit higher, a little bit wider, because it’s the chassis of the T-Roc [R],” he said.
Acting General Manager of Corporate Communications for Volkswagen Australia, Daniel DeGasperi, then summarised the exchange and made it abundantly clear a second-generation T-Roc R was in the works.
“So that gives you your answer as to whether there’ll be another T-Roc R,” he said.
The current model is powered by the same ‘EA888’ turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol as the current Golf R, albeit with slightly watered-down outputs of 221kW/400Nm.
It’s too soon to know whether VW intends to dial up the next T-Roc R in the same way it did with the latest Mk8.5 Golf R – which now produces 245kW – or if the crossover will remain half a step or so behind its hatch sibling.
When asked directly about a power upgrade, Diaz said the EA888 engine was “competitive” in its current form, and yet some customers still regularly ask for more performance from the factory.
“The question is: do we really need more performance?
“I think with this package, we have here today, performance-wise, will be the right performance for the next couple of years.”
Lead image generated by AI
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