Essentially Volkswagen’s take on sister brand Seat’s compact Arona, the T-Cross will ride on the Polo’s MQB A0 platform also used by the Seat Ibiza, and measure 4 107mm in overall length with a height of 1 558mm.

Coming in at 110mm higher than the Polo though, the T-Cross will also be more spacious, with Volkswagen claiming a boot space of between 385-litres and 455-litres depending on the model selected, although dropping the back seats will result in a capacity of 1 281-litres. For entry-level models, the T-Cross will ride on 16-inch alloy wheels, with 17 and 18-inch rollers being offered on higher-up variants.

Said to offer “unrivalled flexibility”, the T-Cross, which will go up against the Hyundai Kona, aging Nissan Juke, Ford EcoSport, Toyota CH-R and Kia Stonic will come equipped with niceties such as an eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system, up to four USB ports, Volkswagen’s Active Info Display instrument cluster as an option, a selection of interior insert colours and a wireless smartphone charger.

Despite being targeted towards a more youthful audience, and being Volkswagen’s most affordable SUV, the T-Cross will not skip on safety equipment, and will have items, depending on the trim level, such as Blind Spot Monitor, Lane Keep Assist, Autonomous Emergency Braking and Rear Cross Traffic Alert.

In the United Kingdom, Volkswagen will offer the T-Cross in four trim levels; S, SE, SEL and R-Line with power coming from two engines shared with the Polo, a 1.0 TSI developing 70kW/160Nm or 85kW/200Nm and a 1.6 TDI outputting 70kW/250Nm. Later on, Volkswagen will also add the 1.5 TSI Evo that makes 110kW/250Nm.

While the T-Cross will be sold exclusively with front-wheel drive in order to keep costs down, the base 1.0 TSI will transmit its grunt to the black stuff via a five-speed manual gearbox, while a six-speed will be standard on the 85kW model and on the diesel. A seven-speed DSG is optional on the latter pair and will likely be the sole option on the 1.5 TSI.

So far, no indication has been made as to whether the T-Cross would receive the same 147kW 2.0 TSI that powers the Polo GTI, which reports have claimed will lead to the expansion of the iconic performance moniker, despite this being previously rejected by company CEO Herbert Diess.

Set to be officially revealed in October with reports from the UK alleging a starting price of around £17 000 (R302 659), the T-Cross will make landfall in South Africa and slot in below the Tiguan, although an exact time as not yet been announced.