Details and pictures of Volkswagen’s new 7-Seater crossover have become available ahead of its debut at the Detroit Motor Show. It is called the CrossBlue, and it slots between the Tiguan and Touareg SUV. The CrossBlue is specifically designed for the North American market.
The car is built on the MQB platform and measures very nearly 5 meters in length. It needed to be long so it could accommodate the third row seats. The normal seats back there are two individual seats, which make the car a six-seater. But in the production version that will be like a bench, which can hold three people and is also easier to fold, increasing the cargo space. Other features of the concept car that probably won’t make into the production is the set of 21-inch rims.
The CrossBlue concept is powered by a hybrid system, consisting of a 190-horsepower TDI Clean Diesel engine from the new EA288 family, a six-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission, and two electric motors, one on each of the axles. That obviously makes it a four-wheel-drive car, and a hybrid electric. It can run on pure electricity, or as a hybrid, in which case it will return 35 mpg.
Performance-wise, with a total output of 305 horsepower and maximum torque of 516 pound-feet, the CrossBlue can go from 0 to 60 in 7.2 seconds. The overall driving range is 661 miles if the 18.5-gallon fuel tank is filled with ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel. The pure electric range is about 14 miles.
Will the hybrid drivetrain make it into production? Well, that remains to be seen.
