Volkswagen’s newest SUV teaser points to upsized T-Cross South Africa won’t get

Volkswagen has released a fresh teaser image depicting a new compact SUV that will debuted in 13 October below the Tiguan. Although the image doesn’t reveal much of the design or what the interior looks like, it is widely believed that the newcomer is in fact the long awaited Tarek spun-off of the Chinese market Tharu revealed back in 2018.

“We’re excited to share the first glimpse of the newest member of the Volkswagen family. Great things come in small packages, as Volkswagen has proven throughout the years with its iconic Beetle, Golf and Jetta. This next car will be no exception,” Volkswagen Group America CEO and President, Scott Keogh, said in a statement.

Chinese market Volkswagen Tharu

Set to be built at the former Beetle plant in Puebla, Mexico, the Tarek will be revised inside and out to suite North American tastes with sales set to start next year. Up front, it will allegedly keep the Tharu’s engines which consists of a 110 kW 1.4 TSI and a 137 kW 2.0 TSI backed-up by a seven-speed DSG.

Positioned above the T-Cross North America won’t be getting, and riding on a development of the MQB platform shared with sister brand Skoda’s Karoq and Seat’s Ateca, the Tarek will in effect become Wolfsburg’s entry-level in the SUV in the States, therefore ruling it out from coming to South Africa as it will mostly likely overlap on price with the T-Cross 1.5 TSI.

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