POWER PLAY

A sporty crossover based on the Golf heads VW’s renewed assault on the SUV market

City SUVs are like Kardashians. They’ve become incredibly popular, even if no-one’s quite sure how that happened. And as with the Kardashians, keeping up is imperative in the SUV market. Volkswagen Australia knows only too well what it’s like to be off-trend. It’s been waiting for what seems like an age to have a competitive line-up of city-focused faux-wheel drives.

That wait is over with the arrival of the oddlynamed T-Roc and T-Cross, which slot in neatly under the company’s family-sized Tiguan.

The T-Roc is based on the Golf, the T-Cross on the smaller Polo. Each follows the tried and tested formula of an elevated seating position, more ground clearance and some plastic cladding around the wheel-arches to make them look more butch.

There is a difference, though. The smaller TCross is more utilitarian, with a boxier shape and clever sliding rear seats to maximise load space. The sole T-Roc model is less about practicality and more about style, with a tapered rear-end that gives it a sleeker, coupe-like profile.

Initially, there will be only one T-Roc in the line-up; a fully loaded, all-wheel-drive, circa $40,000 offering powered by a punchy 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder.

Red brake calipers and low-profile tyres on the outside, combined with a flat-bottomed steering wheel with red stitching on the inside, are clearly aimed at the enthusiast driver.

Order the optional “luxury” and “style” packages and you’re looking at close to $50,000 on the road.

Volkswagen is expected to introduce an entry level version later in the year, but for the time being it’s targeting the style and performance-conscious buyer. Mainstream rivals are Toyota’s C-HR and Mazda’s new CX30, while the brand also expects to steal sales from the bottom end of the luxury SUV market.

Volkswagen’s product marketing manager, Jeff Shafer, acknowledges the brand’s SUV lineup needed an injection of new blood.

“Australia’s such a strong SUV market and a lot of the growth has come at the smaller end of that, so we’ve been really eager to get T-Roc and T-Cross into the market,” he says.

The brand has modest initial sales expectations for the new models – particularly