Wolfsburg / Beijing, April 2014. Volkswagen has two of the most successful SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicle) of European origin in its range with the Tiguan and the Touareg. Now Europe’s largest carmaker will significantly extend this range with new models in a wide variety of classes. Back in 2013, Volkswagen showed how a large SUV for the USA or China might look with the CrossBlue and CrossBlue Coupé concept vehicles; development of the production vehicle is ongoing. In the mid-size segment, Volkswagen demonstrated in 2012 with the Cross Coupé concept car – another vehicle with a concrete connection to production cars – just how extremely fuel-efficient an all-wheel drive SUV can be with a TDI plug-in hybrid drive system. A compact model in the lower price segment, the Taigun, is in the development phase; the latest version of this SUV concept was presented in New Delhi, India in February 2014. Following now in an Asian premiere at Auto China 2014 in Beijing is another vehicle that offers a glimpse at future Volkswagen SUVs: the T-ROC. An SUV concept vehicle one down from the Tiguan in the Golf format, for more than just urban driving.

Removable roof halves. The concept car being presented in Beijing follows a new design and interior line. In addition, the two-door car combines the talents of an all-wheel drive SUV – which does not shy away from rocky off-road trails (“ROCK”) – with the light summery air of a convertible. That is because the middle section of the roof consists of two halves, which can be removed with just a few hand movements and stowed in the boot. Incidentally, the “T” in T-ROC is a reference to the nomenclature of current and future Volkswagen SUVs such as the Taigun, Tiguan and Touareg.

Street / Offroad / Snow. The T-ROC, which is powered by a 135 kW / 184 PS direct-injection turbodiesel engine, is equipped with three different operating modes: “Street”, “Offroad” and “Snow”. Each mode modifies the parameters of the 4MOTION all-wheel drive system, engine, 7-speed DSG (dual-clutch gearbox), ABS and hill start and hill descent assist systems. The modes are activated by an intuitively operated turn wheel on the DSG gear shift grip; the mode that is active is shown in a pop-up window in the fully digital instrument set.