The subcompact SUV segment continues to rage with models like Tata Nexon, Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Fronx, Kia Sonet, and Mahindra XUV 3XO continuing to rake in significant volume for their respective OEMs. Seeing this Skoda is making its foray into this segment with the Kylaq which made its debut recently.
Interestingly, Skoda’s parent company— Volkswagen— didn’t have any plans to venture into this segment, at least initially. However, seeing its Czech cousin grabbing all the limelight with the Kylaq, it seems the German carmaker may have a change of heart. Volkswagen will be introducing its own version of a subcompact SUV which has been teased in Brazil.
This SUV made its maiden appearance at the Rock in Rio, in Rio de Janeiro in a camouflaged avatar earlier in September this year and will sit below the Nivus and VW’s Brazilian lineup. Since then, the crossover has been teased on a couple of occasions on the brand’s official website. VW has now officially revealed the name of the SUV as Tera and it will hit the roads in Brazil sometime in 2025.
Volkswagen has also confirmed that the Tera will cater to an all-new segment hinting that the vehicle will measure less than four metres which will make it the smallest SUV in VW’s global lineup. It will be produced at Volkwagen’s Taubaté-based Sao Bernardo do Campo plant (SP) in the South American country. The German brand has also shared a couple of teaser images of the Tera partially revealing its front and rear end.
The first teaser image highlights the front end of the Tera gets a similar fascia as the Taigun with a sleek horizontally slatted grille with a thick chrome trim flanked by a sleek projector LED headlamps and the round VW insignia taking centre stage. The other image reveals the rear end which gets the “TERA” branding at the centre of the tailgate. Like the Taigun, the Volkswagen Tera also gets a contemporary look courtesy of connected LED taillamps with the VW badge at the centre just.
According to a previous report, Volkswagen is indeed looking to introduce a subcompact SUV in India in the future. The report further mentioned that this upcoming SUV will hit Indian roads in 2026. Coming back to Tera, this vehicle is based on the MQB A0 platform which also underpins models like the Polo, T-Cross and Nivus available overseas. Therefore, for India, Volkswagen has to localise the Tera and accommodate it in the India-spec MQB A0 IN architecture.
This is very much possible since VW’s sister company Skoda is about to launch the Kylag based on the same underpinnings. It also means Tera will share the same powertrain as its Czech cousin— a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine which pushes out 114 bhp and 175 Nm of peak torque. Transmission duties will be carried out either by a 6-speed manual gearbox or a 6-speed torque converter automatic gearbox.
