Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet sales boom

Remember when mainstream convertibles were written off by almost the entire car industry as too niche to bother investing in?

Then remember how we laughed at VW for committing an entire factory to production of its 2021 Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet?

The laugh’s on us now, with the convertible now taking up a full quarter of the Volkswagen T-Roc sales in Germany last month.

Range Rover has the only other crossover cabriolet, and it is putting the Evoque Cabriolet to the sword at the end of the current product cycle. Nissan gave up on the Murano convertible years ago, too.

Not at Volkswagen, though.

German industry observer Matthias Schmidt suggests the T-Roc Cabriolet is benefiting from being the only convertible in the brand, with pull-forward from fans of the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet, which was killed off in 2016.

“I was surprised. I’m not sure about other markets, Germany has the best data for it I have,” Schmidt said.

“It kind of makes some strange sense given the demographic shift for those old Golf Cabrio customers.

“There might be a place for these things after all,” he said.

In production since 2018, the T-Roc Cabriolet is not on the shopping list for Volkswagen Australia, though it has been considered.

The sof-top crossover has had a 42 per cent bump in sales so far this year compared to 2020.

But there remains no solid plan to bring the T-Roc Cabrio to Australia.
The Cabrio uses a wheelbase 37mm longer than the standard T-Roc crossover, despite losing the two rear doors. Its soft top opens in nine seconds and operates at up to 30km/h.

It’s 34mm longer overall than the stock hard-top, too, and it is reinforced in the windscreen frame, the underbody, the side panels, cross members and the doors.