Volkswagen budget brand ruled out for Oz

Volkswagen's budget brand is all systems go, set for a market launch in 2018 with three low-cost vehicles, SUV, sedan and hatchback.

As previously reported the new VW budget brand will makes its debut in China, adding another passenger car badge to the Volkswagen Group's already significant portfolio, which includes the likes of Skoda, Audi, and Porsche.

While Renault Australia has considered bringing its budget Dacia car brand here, Volkswagen says its cut-price vehicles are unlikely for Australia.

The Volkswagen Group's head of development, who oversees all brands from Lamborghini to Skoda, Dr Heinz-Jakob Neusser, says the vehicles will initially launch in China and other countries will follow – just not Australia.

"The biggest market is China, and there are some other countries where people have similar demands, and VW is really globalised and engaged," he said.

"But Australia, from the market size, is not the priority for such [budget] cars. With Australia we have some other interesting things we can do," he revealed.

Neusser pointed out that the Aussie market will be bombarded with SUVs in the medium-term instead, and they will be anything but basic.

"You will see in near future in each segment [will get] minimum one SUV. So Tiguan, T-Rock and the T-Cross. These are typical SUVs on the MQB platform with all the [latest] technical features," he said.

The all-new Tiguan is expected to arrive in Australia from late 2016 and the T-ROC SUV is expected to slot underneath it as a stylish, coupe-like offering, not unlike the Nissan JUKE.

And finally the T-Cross SUV, based on the Polo hatch, will be a compact city-savvy SUV that will be the most affordable high-riding vehicle in the VW range.

"These will come in the near future, and these are important for Australia. For on road, off road, outback and so on," said Neusser.