Volkswagen’s lineup in Chinese is impressively complicated as the joint ventures with SAIC and FAW have led to the creation of many models unavailable outside of the People’s Republic. Previewed in March 2018 by the Advance Mid-Size SUV concept, the Tayron is one of those China-only vehicles, but maybe not for long. A new report claims the MQB-based SUV will be introduced in Europe in the next years.

Automotive News Europe has managed to get a hold of an internal VW document that stipulates a large seven-seat SUV will be assembled at the factory in Wolfsburg, Germany. The model in question “will orient itself on the Tayron currently produced in China.” The document was initially sent to the local workforce and later obtained by ANE, which says the new SUV could replace the seven-seat Tiguan Allspace.

The Tayron being Euro-bound wouldn’t come as a big surprise as rumors about the vehicle eventually making it to the Old Continent have been swirling around ever since the Advance Mid-Size SUV concept was unveiled. ANE has it on good authority the start of production in Germany for European consumption is scheduled for 2024, which probably means the SUV is going to be based on the next-generation Tayron.

VW has reportedly taken this decision in order to have a standalone SUV in Europe slotted between the Tiguan and Touareg rather than importing a stretched version of the former from Mexico. Chances are it’s not going to be a carbon copy of the CN-spec Tayron as VW intends to modify the SUV to better suit European tastes. A relevant example is the Chinese Tharu, which is slightly different than the recently launched Taos in the United States.

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The Tayron is not going to be the only new SUV prepared by VW for Europe as South America’s Nivus will also be built in Pamplona, Spain starting 2021 for Euro folks.

A press release about SEAT investing more than €30 million ($35.7M) in a powertrain test center in Europe isn’t particularly interesting. However, that all changes when you discover the VW Group’s Spanish brand discreetly included an interesting photo of a camouflaged prototype being tested at the facility in Martorell.

Ok, but what is it? Although the image was released by SEAT, this doesn’t necessarily mean we are looking at one of the company’s own products. The test facility is for multiple VW Group brands, so it could very well be a Volkswagen-badged car, especially since the vehicle has German plates. Provided this is a model belonging to the VW core brand, we have an idea about what it might be.

Reports of a Variosport have been swirling around the Internet for more than three years, with the rumor mill indicating it would be a mashup between a minivan and an SUV. The model is said to replace the Golf Sportsvan and the Touran, and we even saw a weird test mule about two years ago that seemed to be the model in question.

This might be the Variosport, although it would mean VW will replace the compact tall hatchback and minivan mentioned above with a larger vehicle. China will be getting next year a new SUV called Talagon as a production version of the SMV concept pictured above. Is this it? Perhaps not since that one will be built in China for China and it would make more sense to test it over there rather than in Europe.

Then again, the SMV was spied in prototype guise at the beginning of the year in Europe, so it could be coming to the Old Continent in a similar specification. As you may recall, the concept represented the VW Group’s largest MQB-based car, a seven-seat SUV stretching at a generous 5.1 meters (201 inches) long.

As a final note, we don’t think it’s the European version of the next-generation Tayron since that one isn’t scheduled to arrive on Euro shores until 2024 when production will start in Germany to replace the Tiguan Allspace.

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