Volkswagen planning SUVs based on Up!, Polo: report | CarAdvice

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Volkswagen planning SUVs based on Up!, Polo: report

VOLKSWAGEN POLO
By Tim Beissmann
FIND DEALS

Volkswagen is reportedly planning to launch two city-sized SUVs to sit below the Tiguan to take advantage of the growing global demand for compact crossovers.

German business paper Handelsblatt reports a micro-SUV based on the new Up! and a sub-compact SUV sharing the underpinnings of the Polo light car are “certain” to reach production, according to unnamed Volkswagen sources.

A Volkswagen spokesman told the paper no decisions on new SUVs had been finalised at this stage, but said the company’s versatile production system made it viable to create numerous vehicles on the same platforms.

Volkswagen tested the compact crossover waters last year when it unveiled the Buggy Up! concept (pictured) at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show. The door-less targa-top concept sported robust go-kart styling, striking orange paintwork and a durable, ‘waterproof’ interior designed for outdoor adventures.

The boss of Volkswagen Slovakia – the manufacturer of the Up! hatchback – Albrecht Reimold told Handelsblatt an Up!-based SUV was “certainly an area we must look at”.

Manufacturers around the world are jumping on the sub-compact SUV bandwagon. Cars like the Audi Q3, Mini Countryman and Skoda Yeti will soon be joined by the Opel Mokka, Ford EcoSport, and similar city-friendly SUVs from Hyundai, Jeep and Peugeot, among others.

The small SUV segment has grown more than any other in Australia so far this year, up 52.7 per cent compared with the early months of 2011. In April, the segment accounted for 5.7 per cent of the local market, putting it ahead of the once-dominant large-car segment.


 

  • Sebastian, Style Messiah

    More effort in making their cars reliable and cheap to service would be welcome. The product is appealing, the ownership experience less so.

    Still, this is a lesson for Toyota.., it’s not enough to make reliable cars if the buying experience is akin to taking medicine… I know this will be good for me me, but I really don’t want a bland box on wheels.

    • Reckless1

      My 4 yo Golf MarkV GTI has never had a problem.  Service costs have been $1200 or so for the first 3 services.

      I’ve done well with the tyres – the Contis lasted 42,000k.  Brakes are still only 1/2 worn, despite the enthusiastic stopping brought about by the 188KW and 350nm that the little chippie provides.

      I’m active in 4WD circles too, and the Toyota reliabilty and cheap running myth of Hiluxes and their stablemates would make your eyes water – diffs, gearboxes, wheel bearings, starters, etc, etc. Not one repair less than $2-3k.
      And don’t even ask about Nissan 4wd diesels – even though I own one, I don’t expect to get more than about 70,000k out of the CRD 3.0l engine before some major cost item needs doing, most notably the MAF sensors at $400+ and if you are unlucky enough to have a manual the dual mass flywheel may get you to 40,000k before it reqires replacement at $2000+.  If I’m lucky, the oil feed to the oil pump won’t undo itself and lunch the engine.

      Makes the VW experience seem like a dream.

  • Golfschwein

    You mention this from time to time, as I do my counterpoint: buying a toyota is not the panacea for reliability that you might wish for. Oh, it COULD be, and with luck, will be, but……..I do recall my brand new company Camry that had two mechanical catastrophes by 45,000 km (as well as a left side A-pillar trim piece that was meant for a car with a grey interior, not a navy one) and another later car that was perfectly reliable but the most ghastly thing to drive. Your choice is to buy a car you hate that never goes wrong or one you love with possible foibles. DANGER!!!!!: they’re cars, which means that your best laid plans can be blown asunder, giving rise to the possibility that the one you hate DOES go wrong and the one you avoided because of ‘stories’, including your own, gives someone else a perfectly trouble free experience.

    Let’s get back to the story, this buggy thing here. Looks fantastic, not much to – dare I say it – go wrong.

    • Sebastian, Style Messiah

      You are right, these things are mass produced and every brand has its horror stories. I love my Golf, even though the spanners have been out more often than with my Celica.

  • Peanut

    Why does Europe come up with designs like this, yet Australia the land of the Sun have no home made convertibles or designs like this?

    • Shak

      That is a stereotype. If you live in either of the south eastern states, where the bulk of our car buying population lives,  and it gets close to autumn/winter its as cold as a freezer most mornings. I’ve said this on the site before, we may be known as the Sunburnt country, but in those 6 months of the year when the sun is asleep, we may as well be known as the Ice Block Country.

  • Mr McKenzie

    Where’s Ken and Barbie?

    • scatman

      You mean Ken and Steve

      • Greenroom

        hmm..hi fellas snoice isnt it.. where’s kennypoos?