Though Volkswagen SA has confirmed it hopes to start building a 3rd model in Kariega, there’s an air of mystery surrounding the newcomer. Here’s what we know so far…

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. Martina Biene, Volkswagen Group SA chairperson and managing director, said the mystery model would feature an “SUV-ish” body style, before adding it was not yet in production anywhere in the world.

That, in turn, means the vehicle in question has yet to be revealed, so its identity remains unknown. So, what do we know so far? Well, let’s attempt to answer a few key questions in order to shed a little more light on the topic.

In which segment will the newcomer likely compete?

The Taigun concept from a decade ago…

Biene also revealed the mystery model would be “very much shaped for the A0 segment, and for South Africa and Africa”, furthermore confirming it would be built on the VW Group’s ubiquitous MQB-A0 platform. That leads us to believe the vehicle will take the shape of a budget-friendly crossover positioned below the T-Cross, Taigo, T-Roc, Tiguan and Touareg.

If that indeed turns out to be the case, the as-yet-unrevealed crossover would find itself competing against a raft of sub-4-metre, Indian-built baby SUVs, such as the Nissan Magnite, Renault Kiger, Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet, Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Mahindra XUV300 (as well as whatever replaces Toyota’s Urban Cruiser, plus the Ford EcoSport, though the latter seems unlikely to still be around at that stage).

Interestingly, the Wolfsburg-based automaker had concrete intentions of building a small, Up-based crossover way back in 2012, when it revealed the Taigun concept, before showing off a “near-production” version 2 years later. However, that project was eventually shelved (though the Taigun badge has since been applied to Indian-built crossover closely related to the T-Cross), with the larger T-Cross instead going into production.

What might Volkswagen’s mystery crossover be called?

Any new crossover from VW would likely wear a badge starting with “T”.

It seems highly probable any new addition to VW’s already extensive crossover range in the relatively near future would follow the brand’s current naming convention for such models. That, of course, means it would start with a “T”.

To speculate any further, we’d have to look at the badges the German automaker has applied to trademark in recent times. Perhaps the most likely candidate is “T-Sport”, a nameplate that VW filed to register in a handful of new regions as recently as March 2022.

Interestingly, the T-Sport moniker was also part of a 2019 trademark registration process, along with “T-Go” and “T-Coupé” (though the latter two seem less probable, from where we’re standing). Then there’s the “T-Track” designation that was widely expected to debut on the still-born production version of the Taigun concept.

Another recently trademarked option is “T-Space”, though we’re not convinced such a name would make sense on what will surely be the most compact VW crossover yet.

When can we expect production of the new model to start?

The mystery model is set to join (rather than replace) the Polo and Polo Vivo on the Kariega production line.

This is perhaps the trickiest question to answer, since technically production of the new model has not been locked in for Kariega and the vehicle has yet to be revealed. But considering it takes time – and a significant investment – for a new model (even one built on a common platform) to be added to an assembly line, we’d speculate a potential start of production is still some way off.

Indeed, reports out of India suggest the VW Group will start building a new sub-4-metre, Škoda-badged crossover in that country only at the start of 2025. As a reminder, Škoda was handed global responsibility for the MQB-A0 platform in October 2021, when it was also given the task to develop new “entry-level” Volkswagen and Škoda models for “regions with high growth potential”, including India, Russia and Africa.

It certainly wouldn’t be a stretch to speculate the VW-badged version of that upcoming model is the very vehicle the German firm’s local division is keen to add to its Kariega production line…

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