Volkswagen CrossBlue Plug-In Hybrid Concept

Volkswagen’s CrossBlue plug-in hybrid concept looks to be bound for production. Though it’s still called a concept, the vehicle seen here looks ready to go

It’s easy to convince yourself that the American market plays second fiddle to Europe in the eyes of Volkswagen. Compared with their European counterparts, our current Jetta was decontented at launch, and the forthcoming 2015 GTI will be slightly down on power, to say nothing of the fact that we don’t even have the chance to buy stuff like the GTD and Scirocco (for now, anyway). But then consider that we get an excellent America-focused Passat, and we’ll soon see a U.S.-centric mid-size, three-row SUV based on the CrossBlue concept you see here

For starters, the CrossBlue makes use of the VW Group’s MQB modular architecture, and that won’t change for production. When the concept debuted, we were told MQB couldn’t scale up properly to handle the load requirements. VW has apparently sorted that out in the meantime, and the final product will be the largest vehicle that can use the bones. They’ll help ensure economies of scale with other MQB products, and the architecture is engineered with saving weight in mind. Dimensionally, the CrossBlue checks in at 196.3 inches in length, 79.3 inches wide, and 68.2 inches tall, although VW says height will rise by at least two inches in the conversion to salable product.

Here are the latest specs on the CrossBlue
Five-seat SUV concept is based off the new MQB architecture and features a plug-in V6 gasoline-electric hybrid drivetrain
Concept features dramatic new interpretation of Volkswagen design DNA
415-horsepower gasoline-hybrid concept is capable of 70 MPGe
The vehicle can travel up to 13 miles as an EV at speeds of up to 75 mph
Top speed of 147 mph; 0 to 60 mph in just 5.8 seconds
Turbocharged direct-injection (TSI) V6 gasoline engine works together with two electric motors to produce as much as 415 horsepower
In hybrid mode, it allows for a theoretical range of around 570 miles

The concept vehicle is based off VW’s new Modular Transverse Matrix (MQB) platform, which is highly adaptable and can support several engine options, including both pure BEV and PHEV setups.