Volkswagen Teases High-Tech SUV Concept

VW Beijing concept SUV (Credit: Volkswagen )

Volkswagen wants to move past the whole Dieselgate scandal, but that’s a tall order. It’s bringing out the big guns for Beijing, teasing a concept SUV that will debut at the show.

Admittedly, we don’t know a whole lot about this new concept, including its name. The company says the SUV “moves” the segment’s “design to a more sporty and elegant level” – whatever that means.

VW Beijing concept SUV (Credit: Volkswagen )

VW released the shadowy images you see here, which show off plenty of lighting elements. For example, the taillights look like they belong in the original Space Invaders game. Yeah, this is definitely a weird concept.

I guess the Atari-era taillights are all about how this SUV concept is highlighting Volkswagen’s efforts to make more digital vehicles. Apparently the displays and controls are all digital, but in this day and age that’s really nothing special.

VW Beijing concept SUV (Credit: Volkswagen )

While you might guess that this new concept is an EV, it isn’t. The SUV’s actually a plug-in hybrid, with a ho-hum all-electric range of 31 miles. That’s disappointing, considering VW has shown off quite a few PHEVs lately and few all-electric concepts. If the company wants to start erasing its polluting past, it needs to step up its game big time.

On the sporty end, this Volkswagen SUV concept dashes from 0 to 62 mph in 6.0 seconds and has a top speed of 139 mph. Those are okay numbers, but they’re definitely nothing to get all hot and bothered about.

VW Beijing concept SUV (Credit: Volkswagen )