Volkswagen will invest around 80 million euros in its factory in Osnabrück, Germany, with the aim of starting production of the Volkswagen T-Roc… convertible. The Volkswagen T-Roc, until now produced exclusively at Autoeuropa, in Palmela, gains a new production site, albeit only dedicated to the production of this new bodywork.
The German brand has confirmed the launch of the new T-Roc variant for the first half of 2020 — but a convertible SUV? In addition to the Range Rover Evoque that is currently on sale, there was, for a couple of years, the Nissan Murano in the US. These aren't usually success stories. Why this bet by Volkswagen? In the words of Herbert Diess, executive director of Volkswagen:
Volkswagen is evolving into an SUV brand. T-Roc is already setting new standards in the compact SUV segment. With the T-Roc based cabriolet, we will be adding a highly emotional model to the range.
Volkswagen, SUV brand?
The success of SUVs for the German brand is growing — the Tiguan, for example, in 2017 was among the 10 most produced cars on the planet, and more specifically, it was one of the three most produced SUVs in the world.
In 2020, Volkswagen will expand its SUV range globally to 20 models. At that time, expectations are that 40% of the brand's sales correspond to SUV models. In addition to the T-Roc convertible, this year we'll get to know the T-Cross, a smaller crossover based on the Volkswagen Polo.
Made in… Germany
As mentioned, the new Volkswagen T-Roc variant will be produced in Osnabrück, Germany — not Palmela, Portugal.
The Osnabrück unit currently produces the Tiguan and Porsche Cayman and is also responsible for part of the painting of the Skoda Fabia. Last year, this factory produced around 76 thousand cars.
The numbers put forward by the German brand point to a production of 20 thousand units per year of the convertible Volkswagen T-Roc.