In the beginning of the year at the Detroit Auto Show, Volkswagen presented the CrossBlue Crossover Concept for a three-row model with up to seven seats. The study looked more production ready than usual, something that company official admitted at the time.
According to an Autonews report, it’s no longer a matter of if it will be produced, but where it will be built as Volkswagen officials are pondering whether to re-tool their Chattanooga assembly plant in the USA or its older factory in Puebla, Mexico.
“No decision has been made yet,” Frank Fischer, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America Chattanooga Operations, told reporters on Monday. “My team is working hard to get this as a second vehicle.”
Currently, the Chattanooga factory only builds the Passat sedan. The CrossBlue Crossover Concept is based on VW’s new MQB flexible global vehicle platform, which also forms the base for the new Golf VII and will underpin the next iteration of the North American Passat as well (among many, many other models).
In conceptual guise, the six- or seven seater Crossover measured longer than the Touareg at 196.3 inches (4,986mm) long and was powered by a hybrid unit pairing a diesel engine to rear electric motors, a DSG dual clutch transmission and an all-wheel drive system. The production car will be offered with a bigger variety of powertrains.
PHOTO GALLERY
