The new T-Cross Breeze will take centre stage on the Volkswagen stand at the 86th Geneva Motor Show.
“This open-top Volkswagen enhances the world of compact cars with a completely new attitude to automotive life”, says Dr Herbert Diess. With this, the Chairman of the Board of Management Volkswagen Brand gets to the core of the bold theory behind this concept car, which celebrates its world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show. The Volkswagen Brand Chairman continues: “Our T-Cross Breeze is the first open-top SUV in its class and, at the same time, an affordable, cheeky cabriolet with a raised seating position that gives you a perfect view.” With this concept, Volkswagen underlines the fact that the brand is blazing a trail and making mobility more of an experience than ever before. Herbert Diess: “At the moment the T-Cross Breeze is purely a concept, but we can well imagine putting such a convertible on the market as a production model. An affordable fun car that is also entirely suitable for everyday use. A genuine ‘People’s Car’.” And so the concept car, which is equipped with an 81 kW/110 PS 1.0 litre TSI (turbocharged direct injection petrol engine), gives a glimpse of a new model series. Klaus Bischoff, Head of Design for the Volkswagen Brand, explains: “The T-Cross Breeze is a teaser for the most compact sport utility vehicle that Volkswagen plans to make – and the nucleus of a new SUV and convertible design in the compact sector.”
In future, Volkswagen aims to offer an exciting SUV in every relevant segment. It will start this ambitious product onslaught with the market launch of the new Tiguan, which begins at the end of April in Germany and in early May in the rest of Europe. On the major overseas markets the new Tiguan will also be available with an extended wheelbase. In the higher classes this will be followed by a new mid-size SUV (for the USA and China) as well as the well-known premium segment Touareg sport utility vehicle. Below the Tiguan, two new SUV model series will make their debut: in the Golf class there will be an SUV in the same style as the T-Roc concept car, while the T-Cross Breeze presented in Geneva shows where the journey into the future is heading in the Polo class.
The T-Cross Breeze presented on the shores of Lac Léman aims to offer affordable open-air driving pleasure. The first step into the world of sustainable drives is made here by a highly efficient turbocharged direct injection petrol engine (TSI) with a capacity of one litre, a stop-start system and recuperation mode. The 81 kW/110 PS 1.0 l TSI is a convincing powerhouse, producing 175 Nm of maximum torque from just 1,500 rpm. The TSI drives the front wheels via a 7-speed DSG dual clutch gearbox. Thus equipped, the SUV convertible, weighing just 1,250 kg, needs a mere 10.3 seconds to reach 100 km/h and reaches a top speed of 188 km/h. Fuel consumption and CO2 values are similarly compelling at 5.0 l/100 km and 115 g/km). In combination with the 40 litre fuel tank, the concept car has a theoretical range of 800 km – easily enough to drive from Geneva to Cannes or Venice on a single tank of fuel.
The T-Cross Breeze is characterised by a remarkably wide radiator grille and narrow headlights. These details form the new, characteristic face of this most compact SUV. The distinctive signature of the LED daytime running lights with delicate arcs of light under the LED headlights, as well as large LED rings around the fog lights, underline the independent design of this small SUV. The side profile is also very distinctive. A striking example of the independence of each of the new SUV series is the double character line. Its bottom edge does not, in this case – and in contrast to the Tiguan, for instance – run straight around the car, but instead rises over the rear wheel, resulting in an entirely new side of the car. Another feature that characterises the side profile is, of course, the wheels. The 19-inch aluminium wheels feature a spiral design that is individualised in the area of the wheel hub by colourful, star-shaped plastic clasps. The rear end of the convertible SUV, meanwhile, is dominated by the extremely wide boot lid with integrated LED rear lights. The lid opens up to reveal a boot that is very easy to load, with a volume of nearly 300 litres.
Volkswagen’s interiors are currently making quantum leaps. The designers concentrated on what really matters: creating a new spatial experience and completely redesigning the driver’s cockpit, making use of next-generation human-machine interface (HMI) and developing an entirely new control interface that, one day, will completely do away with buttons and switches. Yet this is no science fiction, but, rather, 
an early glimpse at where production models are heading in the medium-term. Volkswagen has already implemented an operating concept with almost no buttons on board the T-Cross Breeze. The convertible SUV builds the conceptual bridge to the BUDD-e, which is also being presented in Geneva and saw its debut at the CES in Las Vegas in January. With the exception of the control stalk, the power window switches and the buttons for opening and closing the soft top, all of the controls in the T-Cross Breeze are touch-sensitive surfaces or executed as completely new “by-wire” solutions. Gesture control also forms an integral part of the operating interface. The new HMI, with its coupled displays, is detached from the dashboard in a style similar to that of the zero-emission BUDD-e – this is the cockpit of the future. Last, but not least, it is apparent that elements that were formerly purely functional, such as the air vents, now merge with the contours of the interior.
The infotainment system’s central screen (Head Unit) is freely configurable, with tiles that can be freely rearranged on a predefined grid. Here again, the graphics feature the robust honeycomb structure as a common thread. It is possible, for example, to depict the whole route topographically. You can, for instance, display information on the altitude along the route, or the honeycomb pattern can form a dynamic equalizer. Meanwhile, an inbox displays the last three SMS messages along with a picture of the sender. The other tiles include features such as current weather data and a cover flow for the media library. All of these tiles can, as outlined above, be arranged by the driver or the front seat passenger. The configuration and operation are self-explanatory. Operation of the air-conditioning system is also intuitive: proximity sensors are used to open the required window on the touchscreen, which provides the familiar air-conditioning functions as well as controls for the heated seats.
