- The T-Roc Cabriolet is the one convertible Volkswagen sells.
- Weak demand is forcing VW to scale back manufacturing.
- The crossover-cabrio will likely be retired by mid-2027.
As if we would have liked extra proof that demand for convertibles retains slipping, Volkswagen is cutting down manufacturing of the one automobile it sells with a folding roof. Then once more, the T-Roc Cabriolet isn’t any peculiar open-top mannequin. It appears to be like like somebody took a picture of the common crossover and ran it via an AI with the immediate: “make it a convertible.”
A mainstream successor to the Evoque Convertible, the T-Roc with a cloth roof is struggling. Reuters has realized from a VW spokesperson that the normal summer season vacation on the Osnabrück manufacturing facility will likely be prolonged by per week. Wanting forward, there will likely be much more days when no car rolls off the meeting line on the German web site.
Manufacturing hiatuses apart, the T-Roc Cabriolet isn’t lengthy for this world anyway. VW has already introduced it can retire the corporate’s sole convertible by the center of subsequent yr. The manufacturing facility’s future is up within the air, as the corporate has but to resolve what comes subsequent after manufacturing ends. It could possibly be repurposed to serve protection corporations, however an official announcement has not been made.
In the meantime, that is the one car constructed there by the plant’s 2,300 staff. Based on the works council spokesperson, they’ll successfully work solely 4 days per week due to the most recent manufacturing cuts. Reuters cites a VW spokesperson saying the choice stems from the seasonality of convertibles, whose recognition peaks between spring and early summer season within the Northern Hemisphere.
That’s to not say the broader VW Group is giving up on convertibles. Porsche is placing the ending touches on the absolutely electrical 718 and has additionally introduced plans to restart manufacturing of the Boxster with combustion engines. Audi’s Idea C will morph into an electrical sports activities automobile with a retractable targa roof in 2027. Moreover, the lately unveiled Nuvolari is all however sure to get the Spyder treatment.
Equally, extra unique manufacturers comparable to Porsche, Bentley, and Lamborghini will proceed to promote high-end cabriolet fashions. The Temerario Spyder might have already been noticed, and it is cheap to count on a Revuelto Roadster as properly sooner or later. We’re excluding Bugatti from the listing as a result of the Molsheim-based marque is not a part of the VW Group. Porsche is promoting its 45 % stake in Bugatti Rimac to a New York-based funding agency, successfully ending the VW Group era for Bugatti.
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Motor1’s Take: We’re actually not unhappy to see the T-Roc Cabriolet fade into obscurity, however the larger subject is how VW will handle the manufacturing facility after it kills off the final automobile constructed there. Job safety issues greater than ever, and it goes with out saying these 2,300 employees want solutions, and so they want them quick.
These are tough instances for the VW Group. It has already closed the Dresden plant in Germany, the place the Phaeton and ID.3 had been assembled. Moreover, Audi’s Brussels web site in Forest, Belgium, shut down in early 2025 on account of low demand for the Q8 E-Tron. The restructuring plan requires 50,000 job cuts in Germany by 2030 and the relocation of Golf production from Wolfsburg to Puebla, Mexico, beginning in 2027.
