VW saws off the T-Roc with a folding roof. When the new version of the compact SUV rolls off the assembly line from 2025, there will no longer be a convertible offshoot. This marks the end of an era for Volkswagen.
VW T-Roc: Wolfsburg will put an end to convertibles in 2025
The model Barter has been one of VW’s most popular vehicles for years. But this only applies to the classic body with a rigid roof. The Cabrio-Version – only announced in 2019 – recently led a shadowy existence. The Wolfsburg-based company will now ship them in 2025 on the siding, as VW has confirmed (source: Spiegel).
This not only ends the time in which the compact SUV was offered as a convertible. Because the T-Roc is generally the last passenger car under the VW brand that is still available with an optional folding roof. After 75 years, the era of convertibles ends at the Wolfsburg team. The reason for this is obvious.
“Convertibles have become a niche product,” explains a VW spokesman to Spiegel. In other words: While the normal T-Roc has established itself and is selling well, too few customers are interested in the convertible version. It’s probably simply not worth it for Volkswagen to offer a selection.
A look at the latest sales figures underlines this: between January and November 2023, the compact SUV was sold an impressive 190,000 times in Europe. However, these are omitted Not even 12,000 models were sold for the convertible version.
Convertibles may have no future at VW, but the good old GTI brand will remain:
ID.GTI: VW is also going electric in the sports version
In Germany it stands T-Roc in second place behind the best-selling Golf – and even ahead of the Tiguan, which is now considered VW’s most successful model worldwide (source: Statista). Speaking of the Golf: its last convertible version rolled off the production line in 2016. The fact that VW is gradually turning away from the folding roof is not a completely new development.
The Wolfsburg company started with – how could it be otherwise – the Beetle: from 1949 onwards, the convertible version was built by Hebmüller on behalf of VW. Today the original VW convertible is worth far more than an ordinary vintage Beetle.
After the end of the convertible: Will the open body ever make a comeback?
What will happen next for the Cabriolet body style at Volkswagen is still unclear. In any case, the end of the T-Roc Cabrio is not a final farewell for all time. But: “But there are no new convertibles planned at the moment”said the VW spokesman. If you really want one, you should take a closer look at the current T-Roc early on.