Skoda’s Students Reveal The Sunroq Convertible Crossover Concept

Of all the niches that have emerged in the automotive market, the convertible crossover is still among the rarest. There was the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet and the Range Rover Evoque Convertible. Now we can add one more in the Skoda Sunroq… and then promptly remove it from our list. Because this is strictly a one-off.

Built by a team of 23 high-school students at Skoda’s vocational school in the Czech Republic, the Sunroq is based on the Karoq crossover. But as you can see, it has no roof.

The students lobbed it off as part of a nearly year-long project – the fifth such “Azubi Car” creations, following similar projects like the Citijet, Funstar, Atero, and Element. They kept the four doors, though, and crafted a new tailgate (since the existing one is hinged at the roof they took off).

The Sunroq has also retained the standard Karoq’s running gear – including its 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine. So it’ll reach 62 mph (100 km/h) from a standstill in 8.4 seconds, and reach a top speed of 127 mph (204 km/h). With the wind flowing through the five-seat cabin, we’re sure that feels plenty quick.

“The initial phase was an opportunity to sit down with Skoda’s professionals,” said one of the students upon revealing the finished product. “While it wasn’t exactly straightforward, we found it very constructive. And what was the most important lesson we learnt? Definitely the art of reasoning, which is sure to come in very handy in the future.” See how it all came together in the video below.

https://youtu.be/UjA4kgxNu48