The Volkswagen Group subsidiary plans an affordable compact SUV for March 2025 and we believe this model previews the all-new AO VW to be built in SA.
What you’re looking at here is a teaser image released by Skoda India of a new MQB A0 compact SUV that will be hitting showrooms in India in 2025. The name hasn’t been decided yet, but Kwiq, Kymaq, Kylaq, Kariq, and Kyroq are in the running.
What has this got to do with Volkswagen Group Africa (formerly Volkswagen South Africa)? Well, it is no secret the carmaker will be changing strategy as its European market for internal combustion engine-powered Polo and Polo GTIs dries up. The focus will be on retaining manufacturing capability and selling cars into the rest of Africa.
At the start of November 2022, Volkswagen South Africa announced plans to build a 3rd product – alongside the Polo hatchback and the Polo Vivo – at its Kariega plant in the Eastern Cape. Thanks to economies of scale and modular platforms, developing an all-new vehicle isn’t the outrageously high expense it used to be, as both the VW Group powertrains and MQB platform are off-the-shelf items. The list of vehicles using MQB as a base is extensive, but things like the Audi A1, Q3, Volkswagen Polo, Golf, T-Cross, Tiguan and many more all have one major thing in common: platform.
Where does India come in? Well, its common knowledge that Volkswagen India and Volkswagen Group Africa have a relationship, our market sources its Polo sedans from the factory in Pune, India. Interestingly, the product is known as the Volkswagen Virtus in its home market. Volkswagen/Skoda have two factories in India which produce numerous Skoda, Volkswagen and Audi products.
It is therefore not unreasonable to think that Volkswagen Group Africa will be using the new Skoda compact SUV blueprint/know-how in India for the new A0 product which will be assembled in South Africa. You could ask why doesn’t VW just source the vehicle from India? Right now, there’s no indication from Volkswagen India of a new product coming.
We expect Volkswagen to follow its naming convention for all of its SUVs and crossovers, so the new A0 entry-level model’s name will start with a “T”. We won’t be surprised if Volkswagen uses its tried-and-tested 1.0-litre turbocharged 3-cylinder petrol engine either. The choice of transmission is still vague, as the Virtus is offered with a 6-speed torque convertor as opposed to the quick-shifting dual-clutch transmission. We won’t rule out a manual gearbox for the new sub-4-metre SUV either.
Of course, South Africans will be excited to hear there’s a potential small bakkie on the cards too…
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