Patiently waiting for the entry-level Volkswagen T-Cross Trendline to launch in South Africa? Well, the firm’s local division says the base model is no longer on the cards. Here’s why…
At the start of 2023, Volkswagen South Africa released a list of planned model introductions, which included an entry-level T-Cross Trendline derivative. However, the German company’s local division has confirmed to Cars.co.za this base model is no longer on the cards, nixing it for the 2nd time.
Why? Well, the facelifted T-Cross was revealed in July 2023 and is expected to touch down in South Africa at some point in 2024. VW thus told us there were “no plans to introduce the [T-Cross] Trendline in SA since the current model is on runout”.
Of course, just as was the case with the updated Polo hatchback, we expect the refreshed T-Cross to move away from the current naming convention, dropping the Trendline, Comfortline and Highline trim levels for a simplified range of base, Life and R-Line (the latter moniker carried over).
For the record, the outgoing T-Cross range is currently priced from R399 000 to R541 900, though the introduction of the Trendline – which would likely have found favour with the rental industry, too – would obviously have lowered the entry point.
This isn’t the first time plans to introduce the T-Cross Trendline in South Africa have been scrapped. At the local launch of the T-Cross in September 2019, the Wolfsburg-based brand said the entry-level Trendline was scheduled to touch down in the 2nd quarter of 2020 (with an expected price tag of below R300 000).
However, thanks to a certain global pandemic, that date was pushed back to August 2020, before the Trendline was taken off the table completely. That said, late in 2020, VW SA did introduce a detuned 70 kW version of the 1.0 TSI Comfortline derivative, which effectively served as the new base model – and, of course, still does.
Over the opening 7 months of 2023, the T-Cross was Volkswagen’s best-selling imported model, with 4 685 units registered. In the German firm’s passenger-vehicle line-up, that puts it behind only the Kariega-built Polo Vivo (12 113 units) and likewise locally manufactured Polo hatchback (6 574 units).
Those keen on a cheaper VW crossover will likely have to wait until 2026 or 2027, when the automaker’s South African division hopes to commence production of an as-yet-unrevealed “A0 Entry SUV”, which is set to be positioned below the T-Cross…
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