At the Geneva Motor Show back in early March, Volkswagen unveiled the T-Roc Concept. Designed to preview a new mid-size SUV, the T-Roc certainly garnered quite a lot of attention despite being one of literally dozens of other cars to debut at the annual show. Now, the first production-spec T-Roc SUV prototype has been spied testing disguised as the entry-level VW Tiguan.
Actually based around the VW Golf, the T-Roc is set to become a rival to the Nissan Juke as well as the new Mercedes-Benz GLA which is based on the A-Class platform. In order to fit into this segment of the SUV market, the T-Roc will be quite a lot smaller than the Tiguan with it likely to be about 200 mm shorter while also featuring a shorter wheelbase. The car is expected to tip the scales at around 1420 kg.
Beneath the skin, the concept car featured a 181 hp turbodiesel engine complete with 380 Nm of torque. This is the same powerplant found in the Golf GTD and it is likely that it will make its way into the production-spec VW T-Roc. Mated to the engine will be a 7-speed DSG linked to the latest version of VW’s 4MOTION permanent all-wheel drive system complete with a Haldex-5 coupling.
We suspect the VW T-Roc will hit the road in 2016 or 2017.
[Via Autocar]
