The Volkswagen T-Roc has been revealed overnight and, is says VW, a “car that is just as much at home in the city as it is on rough terrain”.

THE VOLKSWAGEN T-ROC was revealed last night in Italy with the German car maker adding a compact SUV to its line-up. Dr Herbert Diess, Chairman of the Volkswagen Brand Board of Management, said at the world premiere in Italy: “The T-Roc sets a new benchmark in the booming SUV segment. With its functionality, dynamic handling and technology, the T-Roc embodies all good Volkswagen qualities. It marks a milestone in our SUV offensive.”

The T-Roc sits below the Tiguan and goes head to head with the Subaru XV and coming-soon Hyundai Kona – it will launch in Europe in November and isn’t expected in Australia until next year. Luggage space is impressive at 445 litres with all seats in use when loaded to the top edge of the back seats. The seats fold down 60:40 instead of the more practical 40:20:40 and expand luggage capacity to 1290 litres which is huge.

The T-Roc will get three petrol engines and three diesel engines and will be available in either front-wheel drive with a manual transmission or 4Motion all-wheel drive and a seven-speed DSG as well as 4Motion Active Control as standard.

There will be three trim lines for the T-Roc, the entry-level will be the T-Roc, with Sport and Style sitting above it. T-Roc ‘Style’ is characterised by the interior’s decorative panels available in a choice of four colours, while the T-Roc ‘Sport’ will get standard sport comfort seats, amongst other elements.

Hopefully, Australia delivered cars will mirror the overseas spec, but in Europe, the entry level T-Roc will get Front Assist area monitoring with City Emergency Braking and Pedestrian Monitoring, Automatic Post-Collision Braking System and Lane Assist. It will also feature air conditioning, the Composition Colour infotainment system, LED tail light cluster, visual underbody guard (black) and LED daytime running lights in the bumper.

Cost-optional features include adaptive cruise control (ACC), Rear View reversing camera, the lane change system including Rear Traffic Alert, Blind Spot Monitor, lane keeping system Lane Assist, Park Assist including manoeuvring brake function, Traffic Jam Assist and Emergency Assist. The T-Roc can be adapted to the driver’s personal preferences via a range of further assistance systems that is exceptionally large for this vehicle class. In addition to adaptive chassis control DCC and progressive steering, these include electric operation of the rear hatch and starting system Keyless Access.

Pricing and final specification for Australia hasn’t been revealed.