Crossover SUVs are the hottest thing in new vehicle sales these days and it's a trend that isn't about to fade away. That's what Volkswagen thinks anyway, the company is busy developing more than 30 SUV models that will be sold throughout the world. In fact, the German automaker is now claiming that by the year 2025, every second passenger vehicle it sells will probably be an SUV.

This estimate is not only for the US but for the entire world. Currently, every fifth new passenger vehicle VW sells now is an SUV, with SUV sales up in all major regions for VW, including North and South America as well as China.

In Europe and other markets, the new T-Cross, which is about the size of a Polo hatchback, will attract customers who don't want or need a mid-size or large crossover, especially if they live in a city. The T-Roc, which is expected to arrive in the US, is about the size of a Golf. Meanwhile, the Touareg is at the top of the SUV range, although it is no longer sold in the US. Instead, the US has the three-row Atlas. The compact Tiguan, which is now one of the ten best-selling cars in the world, is also available with either two or three rows.

"SUVs are becoming increasingly popular with our customers throughout the world," says Jürgen Stackmann, Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand responsible for Sales.

"This is why we are consistently pursuing our current SUV offensive. It will be a key contribution to strengthening our core business so that we can invest the necessary billions of euros in mobility and autonomous driving. The T-Cross rounds off our SUV family in the rapidly growing small SUV market."

That's actually a very interesting statement. Stackmann outright admitted SUV crossover sales are funding development for autonomous and other mobility technologies. Although those technologies are still a few years away from being fully implemented, VW will launch its first all-electric SUV, the I.D. Crozz, in 2020. Given these every growing SUV sales, do vehicles such as the Golf have a long-term future? It'll be interesting to see what happens over the course of the next decade or so.