Volkswagen reveals new T-Cross and T-Roc SUVs

The German car making giant will add two all-new SUVs to its Australian line-up in the coming months. One is sharply priced, the other is aimed upmarket.

Volkswagen has revealed pricing details for a pair of new SUVs due to land in local showrooms this April.

The first is the T-Cross small SUV. Prices for the two variant T-Cross line-up will start at $27,990 (before on-road costs).

This is Volkswagen’s cheapest SUV on sale to date and will compete with rivals such as the Mazda CX-3, which starts at $22,710.

The T-Cross will be VW’s cheapest SUV.

The T-Cross is based on the small Polo hatch and is powered by the same 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo engine (85kW/200Nm) mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch auto driving the front-wheels.

A higher-powered 110TSI version using a 1.5-litre turbo four-cylinder engine (110kW/250Nm) will arrive in June.

The base T-Cross comes with a decent amount of standard safety kit including autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assist and driver fatigue detection. Higher-spec versions get blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.

2020 Volkswagen T-Roc X

The second new model to drop this April will be the Golf-based T-Roc SUV, which sits in between the T-Cross and the Tiguan.

Volkswagen is launching the most expensive all-wheel drive 140TSI version first, along with a T-Roc X special edition limited to 200 units, with prices starting at $40,490 and $42,990 respectively.

That makes it about $6000 more expensive than front-drive versions of the larger Tiguan.

The T-Roc will compete with the coming Mazda CX-30.

The T-Roc’s natural rivals, the Mazda CX-30 ($29,990) and Kia Seltos ($24,990), also offer a much cheaper entry point in front-wheel drive guise. Both also have cheaper all-wheel drive versions available.

Power for the T-Roc comes from a 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder unit (140kW/320Nm) mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch auto driving all four wheels.

Volkswagen will bring a less expensive 110TSI version to Australia from June.

In the meantime, the top-shelf version is loaded up with autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, rear view camera and adaptive cruise control.

The T-Roc will sit below the larger Tiguan.

The cabin has the brand’s digital cockpit, which is seen on several Audi models, and an eight-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The T-Roc is available for pre-order now. Interested buyers can place a $500 deposit to secure their vehicle.

Originally published as Volkswagen reveals new T-Cross and T-Roc SUVs