Volkswagen is setting its sights on an all-electric future, but the company hasn't quite weaned itself entirely off of internal combustion yet. Instead, it's giving us one last all-new all-ICE model before the internal combustion lights go out forever: The second-generation T-Roc, a Golf-based crossover with some fantastic looks. Volkswagen promises the updated T-Roc will be its last completely new vehicle to ride on an internal combustion platform, not one that is designed to also accommodate EV
powertrains, and it's nice to know the internal-combustion world is going out in style.
More than two million of the first-gen T-Roc have been sold since it was introduced in 2017, but the prior model's proportions always looked a little off. The high beltline looked overinflated, oddly bulky or bulbous for the car's compact size. The new car brings sharper edges, sleeker lines, and Volkswagen's standard light bars to the T-Roc, making for a far prettier crossover than the outgoing generation. As sendoffs for internal combustion go, Volkswagen could have done a whole lot worse.
Read more: Here's Every Car Company Volkswagen Owns Right Now
Pretty Inside And Out
The T-Roc will launch with two different powertrain options, but Volkswagen has already laid out a lineup of seven different engine choices, all with hybrid power. The first two will be 1.5-liter mild-hybrid setups, making 114 or 148 horsepower, available in front-wheel drive only. Those will be joined later by two full-hybrid setups, also front-wheel drive, and all-wheel-drive 2.0-liter models are also on the list to be added later. Volkswagen has also said a performance-oriented R model is in the works.
Inside, the T-Roc heralds the slow return of buttons to the Volkswagen lineup. The steering wheel has buttons and the center console has a physical volume knob, both steps in the right direction from prior VW cars. The T-Roc's climate controls still look to be capacitive, sitting beneath the 13-inch center display, but at least that's better than putting them in the screen. I'll take physically distinct capacitive controls over some sub-menu any day.
Too Bad The U.S. Won't Get It
It's unfortunate that the U.S. won't get the T-Roc, because it's a nice way to ring out the era of internal combustion — plus, it's prettier than a good chunk of the crossovers on our roads today. A compact crossover with exclusively hybrid drivetrains would probably do reasonably well in the States, and I'd rather see these parked on the street then yet another Chevrolet Trailblazer. Volkswagen, run the numbers one more time, and just double-check that you can't send the T-Roc here. Pretty please?
As for the no-more-internal-combustion stuff, it doesn't mean there won't continue to be new gas-powered Volkswagens for a while. The company just won't be developing new cars on ICE platforms. Speaking to Autocar, CEO Thomas Schäfer said that the rest of Volkswagen's lineup has been recently redesigned, with models that can last and be further refreshed and given better, more efficient hybrid powertrains. "For now, [the T-Roc] is the final totally new vehicle that we will put on a new platform on the combustion side," Schäfer said to Autocar, "But with everything that's changing around us, when you look at the EU... Will there be an end of combustion engines in 2035, yes or no? And what are the thresholds on the way? Customers will decide, and then if the demand is there, you will have to think about new vehicles, but for now there is no plan."
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