Given its European debut at the Geneva Motor Show, the revisions offer a 50% economy improvement compared to the Tokyo concept car, which returned 104.6mpg and emitted 62g/km CO2. But it’s also more powerful, at 303bhp compared to 261bhp for the petrol version, when it combines its two electric motors and 188bhp TDI engine.

There are no plans to put the car into production, but the model is a demonstration of the flexibility of Volkswagen modular transverse matrix (MQB) platform, which will underpin the group’s new models of all sizes.

As a result, the Cross Coupe could be adapted to make it either a petrol or diesel-electric hybrid, but also to use only conventional powertrains or pure electric power – showing how diverse the power sources for future Volkswagen Group model ranges could be.

The first MQB cars will arrive this year, with the Geneva-unveiled Audi A3 and forthcoming SEAT Leon the first to get the platform.