Volkswagen T-Roc bookings closed in India

The Volkswagen T-Roc is no longer available to book, with the first batch of 1,000 units allocated for India having been sold. We had reported back in June that almost all the total allocation for the Indian market had been spoken for in just 40 days. However, the ongoing pandemic may have resulted in some cancellations and generally slowed the sales of the remaining units.

• The Volkswagen T-Roc SUV was brought to India as a CBU import
• Entire batch of 1,000 units has been sold, priced at Rs 19.99 lakh
• Volkswagen will launch the Taigun, a Hyundai Creta rival, in 2021

The VW T-Roc was launched in March 2020, just before the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering the relatively compact crossover was brought in as a CBU and cost Rs 19.99 lakh (ex-showroom, pan-India), demand for the VW T-Roc was impressively strong.

Why has the T-Roc been so successful?

Despite its unfavourable price-to-size ratio and low-slung crossover appearance – both things unpopular with Indian SUV buyers at large, the T-Roc has enjoyed a fair amount of success. The T-Roc isn’t a conventional-looking SUV in the slightest; it’s more of a crossover, with a raked glasshouse and sloping ‘A’ and ‘C’ pillars. However, what works in its favour is that the T-Roc is one of VW’s more modern and progressive designs.

What also attracts people to the T-Roc is the fact that it and comes packed in with a fair bit of equipment. Standard kit includes full-LED headlamps and tail-lamps, dual-tone 17-inch alloy wheels, an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system (with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility), a digital instrument cluster, dual-zone automatic climate control, a panoramic sunroof, and ‘Vienna’ leather seats.

What safety features and engine options does it come with?

On the safety front, the T-Roc comes as standard with six airbags, ABS with EBD, ESC, a tyre pressure monitoring system, front and rear parking sensors, and a rear parking camera. As it is a CBU import, it even gets some sensor-based driver assistance features that are standard on the European car, including an active lane-keeping assist (which lightly steers the car back into line if it strays from its lane) and a frontal collision warning system that can detect when you’re going to have a head-on crash.

The T-Roc is available with a single engine– a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder TSI turbo-petrol engine good for 150hp and 250Nm. The unit features VW’s Active Cylinder Technology (ACT), which can deactivate cylinders for increased efficiency, and is paired with a 7-speed DSG as standard.

What else is the T-Roc up against?

In Volkswagen’s India line-up, the T-Roc sits under the Tiguan Allspace, but will be positioned above the upcoming Taigun SUV, which is due in 2021. It has no direct rivals, but falls in the same price ballpark as the Skoda Karoq and the Jeep Compass.