Volkswagen's Newest Crossover Is Yet Another VW Crossover America Can't Have

Following Volkswagen’s disastrous, reputation-fouling diesel scandal, the brand quickly pivoted to utility vehicles in a bid to recapture lost U.S. sales. So far, so good on that front. The Atlas is a strong contender in the midsize field and the new-generation Tiguan saw a surge of buyers after VW added a third row and piles of length.

Still, the lineup isn’t fully fleshed out. While the old-generation Tiguan (called the Tiguan Limited) remains as a small crossover offering, that model disappears for the 2019 model year. VW hasn’t even named its compact successor, a model initially geared solely for the North American market.

Meanwhile, overseas buyers already have two small VW crossovers to think about — the T-Roc, already on sale, and now the T-Cross.

Slated for a fall 2018 debut, the T-Cross was teased in an artist’s rendering Tuesday morning. Volkswagen says the model, which slots beneath the T-Roc in size, rides atop the brand’s MQB platform and offers passengers a “surprising amount of room.” A sliding rear bench helps in this regard.

While the model has European customers in mind, buyers in China and South America will also get a chance to drop currency on one. However, it doesn’t look like the U.S. stands to gain a new subcompact offering.

As for our small crossover, the last word on that trickled out in March, when VW brand sales boss Juergen Stackmann referenced it in an interview with Automotive News. “We call it internally Volks-SUV,” he said, adding “the production car won’t have that name – because it turned from a regional project into a global project.”

Stackmann said sales would begin in August, but don’t get ready to head to the dealer just yet. Initially produced in China via a joint venture, locals get first dibs on the unnamed crossover (which also uses VW’s MQB architecture). Production for the North American market begins in Mexico in 2020.

[Image: Volkswagen Group]