Covid-19 slams brakes on planned entry-level Volkswagen T-Cross

The entry-level Volkswagen T-Cross Trendline that was reported to sell for “less than R300k” will not be coming to South Africa anymore.

Martina Biene, Head of the Volkswagen brand in South Africa, confirmed on Wednesday (12 August) that the planned gateway model to VW’s compact SUV range has been put on ice indefinitely.

“Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the rental car industry has taken a massive knock. The T-Cross Trendline model was earmarked for that space, but the numbers have decreased too much to justify bringing the model in,’’ said Biene.

She did not rule out the fact that the T-Cross Trendline might be considered in future should the economy recover sufficiently.

“I can confirm that that won’t happen in the next two months. But for that to happen numbers will have to pick up,” added Biene.

Although not the planned Trendline model, VW will roll out a new entry level T-Cross derivative later in the year in the form of the 70 kW 1.0 TSI Comfortline. Pricing will be announcing in due course before the model’s arrival expected towards the end of September.

Currently the T-Cross range starts with the 85 kW 1.0 TSI Comfortline DSG, which retails for R374 300. A new flagship model, the 110 kW 1.5 TSI Highline DSG, has just been launched for R431 100.

VW announced yesterday that Biene, who has been heading up the brand in South Africa for almost two years, will be leaving at the end of the month to take up a top job at its headquarters in Germany, the country she hails from. A local successor for Biene has not been announced yet.

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