Despite having witnessed the commercially
unsuccessful Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet and Range Rover Evoque Convertible,
VW has gone ahead and unveiled its own drop-top SUV. The T-Roc Cabriolet should help
the Germans kill two birds with one stone – offer a replacement for the
discontinued Golf Cabriolet and boost sales of its ever-increasing SUV family.
Time will tell whether Wolfsburg will do a better
job than Nissan and Land Rover at convincing people to buy a convertible
crossover, but the truth is the T-Roc Cabriolet has at least one thing going
for it it will be significantly cheaper than both.
VW’s announcement earlier this week revaled that
customers will have two powertrain at their disposal, a 1.0-liter
three-cylinder delivering 113 HP and a 1.5-liter four with 148 HP. The latter comes coupled to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission as
standard, while the former gets a six-speed manual.
Any of these engines should be enough, as owners
will mainly use the T-Roc Cabriolet for cruising. But what if some buyers want
more performance? Well, one solution would be to transplant the 300 PS AWD powertrain from the T-Roc R to it.
As the two are largely the
same, we presume that would be feasible if the bean counters ever decided such
a model would make sense. However, we can’t see that happening, as its
clientele would be extremely limited and sales most likely would not justify
the investment. That does not stop rendering artists such as X-Tomi from trying
to imagine what a 300 PS T-Roc R Cabriolet would look like, though.
