At the Beijing Auto Show, Volkswagen dropped jaws with a W12 motorized monstrosity of a Bentley SUV and a 600hp off-roadable Lamborghini. While these super SUVs are good for headlines, much slighter specimens will produce volume. Volkswagen plans SUVlets based on the Polo, and is working on pocket SUVs based on VW’s midgetmobile, the Up! If you think Volkswagen’s Tiguan is small, you’ll assume that the target group for the new class of minus-sized SUVs is ants.
Germany’s Handelsblatt has it on good, albeit anonymous authority that Volkswagen wants to round out its SUV portfolio with models based on the Polo and the even smaller Up! Officially, Volkswagen neither denies nor confirms the rumor. Says a Volkswagen spokesperson:
“We are looking at everything. SUVs are very interesting. Our modular concept allows more derivatives. No decision has been made yet.“
The paper expects the entry-level SUV to cost “significantly less than €20,000.”
Do we really need to go by anonymous rumors regarding ” that Volkswagen wants to round out its SUV portfolio with models based on the Polo and even smaller”?
Or can we just look at the VW do Brasil or the VW Mexico corporate VW pages.
VW Cross Fox (that’s a microcar on stilts, with a rear-gate mounted spare tire, an option much requested by Touareg drivers in the NAR market, without success):
http://www.vw.com.mx/es/models/crossfox/galeria.html
http://www.vw.com.br/pt/carros/CrossFox.html
The Cross Fox retails in Mx at that country’s overly high prices for… USD $14,300.
CrossFox and CrossPolo have been around for years, and based on anecdotal observation in multiple Latin American countries, sell quite well for VW.
I suspect VW is thinking something a little bit more differentiated, though: a smaller Tiguan rather than a new-generation CrossPolo maybe?
Don’t bet on it. Just take a look at Ford’s EcoSport or Renault’s or Dacia’s Duster. Or for that matter Mini’s Countryman. Polo on stilts is what it is.
The Cross-thingys are the basic cars raised a few mm. These new cars will just have more jeep looking sheetmetal.