VW realizes North American families need something a little bigger. Actually, a lot bigger.

Whilst delivering surely the most long-winded of all presentations at this year’s Detroit auto show, Volkswagen happily accepted the North American Car of the Year award for their Golf. The sporty little Golf is available with a wide range of powertrains, and makes for an ideal family car in Europe.

However, North American families need something a little bigger. Actually, a lot bigger. Realizing this after losing market share to the point where even a formerly niche company like Subaru is surging ahead, VW is planning for what they call the “biggest SUV offensive in our history.” Sounds like a Panzer attack.

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Key to the new strategy will be a seven-seat crossover, and while the production model wasn’t shown here today, we can now guess at what it’ll look like. The angular GTE Cross-Coupe revealed at Detroit might lose some of the show-car touches, like huge wheels and steeply-sloped rear glass, but when VW’s new seven-seater does go into production, expect to see the same creased lines and aggressive front grille. And doesn’t it look an awful lot like the Jeep Grand Cherokee?

Power comes from a plug-in V6 hybrid, with a combined power of 360 hp and a theoretical electric-only range of 32 kilometres. While we’d expect the seven-seater to roll out with more conventional powertrains (including diesel), VW’s modular technology will allow them to implement plug-in tech at some future point.