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.
Also read: New Range Rover Evoque Convertible: Ask Us Anything
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 (115 PS) and a 1.5-liter four with 148 HP (150 PS). 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 (296 hp) AWD powertrain from the T-Roc R to it.
As, apart from the top, 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.
After all, it doesn’t take millions, just a few hours in front of a computer screen, and while the end result is not that surprising, we think it does look good, don’t you agree?
