Let's Get Small: Volkswagen Plans Midget SUVs
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.”
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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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?