I’m probably not a fan of convertibles. I don’t just like the wind messing up my hair, the solar burning my face, outdoors smells stinking up my cabin, and annoying noises drowning out my music. I at present personal an R129 SL that I’ve by no means taken the hardtop off of, and I hardly ever even drive with the home windows down. However what I irrationally love are convertible SUVs. I’m not speaking about Wranglers and Broncos — I imply issues just like the Vary Rover Evoque Convertible and Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet.
Sadly, Volkswagen has introduced that it hates enjoyable, by which I imply it is going to be discontinuing the T-Roc Cabriolet after the present technology of the compact crossover runs its course. That’s a rattling disgrace, because the droptop T-Roc is the one crossover convertible you’ll be able to at present purchase worldwide, not to mention in Europe the place the T-Roc is offered.
VW model improvement boss Kai Grunitz confirmed the T-Roc Cabriolet’s demise to Automotive Information Europe when discussing particulars of the next-gen T-Roc at at CES:
Volkswagen won’t substitute the T-Roc Cabriolet when the model launches the brand new model of the small SUV subsequent 12 months.
The present T-Roc will likely be changed subsequent 12 months by a brand new mannequin utilizing the MBQ Evo platform that additionally underpins the Golf’s upcoming face-lift, in addition to the brand new Passat and Tiguan.
The brand new T-Roc will likely be VW’s ultimate combustion-engine variant, VW model’s improvement boss Kai Grunitz advised journalists on the sidelines of the 2024 CES tech occasion in Las Vegas.
Grunitz added that “there’s solely a extremely small buyer group for cabrios” as reasoning for the T-Roc convertible being discontinued. Regardless of that, final 12 months the T-Roc cabrio was the second best-selling convertible in Europe after the Mini droptop, promoting 11,693 items in 2023, and at one level it even made up greater than 1 / 4 of all T-Rocs offered. (In 2023 the T-Roc was the third best-selling automobile in Europe typically, with 191,015 automobiles registered.) It’s not a nasty worth, both. In Germany the T-Roc convertible is only some thousand Euro costlier than the equal common T-Roc, and it’s priced between the highest trims of the Mini Cooper and Cooper S convertibles.
The T-Roc was first unveiled in 2017 because the smallest crossover in VW’s lineup (till the T-Cross got here a 12 months later). In 2020 the T-Roc Cabriolet got here out, primarily taking the place of the Beetle convertible that exited manufacturing a 12 months earlier. It featured a cloth roof that might be opened in simply 9 seconds at speeds of as much as 18 mph, and in contrast to the conventional T-Roc, the convertible solely had two doorways however nonetheless retained 4 seats. VW facelifted the T-Roc lineup a pair years later, however sadly the convertible by no means obtained the 296-horsepower motor from the sporty T-Roc R.
It’s an actual disgrace to see one more area of interest physique type chew the mud, particularly when convertible gross sales typically are on the decline, representing lower than one p.c of automobile gross sales within the U.S. in 2022. However I nonetheless have hope in my coronary heart. The proliferation of bespoke electrical automobile platforms ought to make it simpler to create and federalize lower-volume fashions — simply take a look at how wagons are beginning to have a resurgence in recognition — so possibly we’ll see convertibles, particularly SUVs, make a comeback sooner or later.
