VIDEO: Volkswagen teases its T-Roc baby SUV

UPDATED 16/08/6:00pm: Volkswagen Germany has now released a YouTube video of its first global compact SUV, the T-Roc, revealing some of its angular front-end, coupe-like roofline, heavily raked rear windscreen and clean, two-tone dashboard..

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Volkswagen has continued to tease its all-new compact SUV, the T-Roc ahead of its world debut in Europe next Wednesday night (early August 24 Australian time).

These three heavily stylised renderings show a compact five-door SUV with chunky proportions and massively pumped haunches, much like the T-Roc concept first revealed way back at the 2014 Geneva motor show.

It remains to be seen how much of this design carries through to the final production version, which goes on sale in Eurpe late this year and has also been confirmed for release here by Volkswagen Group Australia, which committed to releasing five new SUVs within 30 months in August 2016.

It reiterated that promise at the launch of the second-generation Tiguan mid-size SUV last September, when it confirmed the T-Roc will arrive in local showrooms next year.

The all-new seven-seat Tiguan Allspace will beat it here in early 2018 and the T-Roc will be followed later in 2018 by the new Touareg flagship SUV and, by February 2019, yet another sub-Tiguan small SUV most recently previewed by the smaller-still T-Cross Breeze at the 2016 Geneva show.

Speaking at yesterday’s launch of the 7.5 Golf GTI, VGA product marketing manager Jeff Shafer could not conceal his excitement about the SUV influx, in particular the German brand’s first direct rival for the popular Mazda CX-3, Mitsubishi ASX, Honda HR-V, Holden Trax, Toyota C-HR and Ford EcoSport.

“The good news on that [sub-Tiguan] front is there’s some products starting to come down the pipeline, and we've said in the past we're looking at five new SUVs in the next few years, including our new Tiguan,” he said.

“T-Roc has been teased -- that'll be coming out shortly -- and there's been a few other concepts in that small SUV space, such as the T-Cross. There's a new Touareg on its way too.

“Any SUV I can get my hands on is welcome. SUVs are a hot part of the market and an area we really want to be represented in. From an SUV standpoint we're sitting in a pretty good position over the next couple of years.”

Apart from outlining the T-Roc’s wide front grille with integrated dual headlights and separate lower turn indicators and signature daytime running/cornering lights, Volkswagen has revealed no new information about the Golf-size T-Roc, which will fill the void vacated by the larger MkII Tiguan.

However, the company’s smallest SUV yet – except the Taigun sold outside Western markets – is understood to share much with Audi’s pint-size Q2 underneath, where it will also be based on VW’s latest MQB modular architecture.

Power is likely to come from turbocharged 75kW 1.0-litre three-cylinder and 86kW 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, and perhaps higher-output 1.8-litre turbo-petrol and 1.6-litre turbo-diesel fours, all matched with either six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch DSG transmissions.

There are also rumours of a range-topping R version of the T-ROC, powered by the Golf R’s 220kW-plus 2.0-litre turbo four, which could be one of the few engines matched with VW’s 4MOTION all-wheel drive.

Shafer said compact SUVs were now a significant part of the new-vehicle market in Australia, where the ASX and CX-5 both found about 1500 buyers last month and have both notched up more than 10,000 sales so far this year.

“I think it [T-Roc] would resonate with Australian buyers,” he said.

“We always have the discussion with Germany about how our market is travelling and if you look at the sales numbers, SUVs of all sizes are growing steadily. We want to be where the market is and we'll certainly put our hand up for that type of product.”

Expect next year's T-Roc to be priced below the entry-level Tiguan ($31,990 plus on-road costs) and the pint-size 2019 T-Cross to be cheaper still, meaning that within two years Volkswagen should have a direct competitor for all mainstream small SUVs priced between $20,000 and $30,000.