What might VW’s new SA-built small SUV be called?
Volkswagen plans to start building an as-yet-unrevealed new small SUV in SA from 2027. What might it be called? Well, new trademark filings present as many as 7 potential options…
Volkswagen recently announced a fresh R4-billion investment in its South African operations, confirming plans to start building an as-yet-unrevealed new small SUV in Kariega (alongside the Polo hatch and Polo Vivo) from 2027. But what might the upcoming sub-T-Cross model be called?
Well, earlier this year, the German firm filed as many as 7 new trademark applications in South Africa, with each fresh badge starting with the letter “T”. Since VW’s current naming convention sees the title of each crossover and SUV in its range – including the T-Cross, Taigo, T-Roc, Tiguan and Touareg – begin with this letter, the list below might just contain the newcomer’s eventual designation.
As a reminder, Volkswagen Group Africa has confirmed that the brand’s Brazilian division is “leading the design and development” of the new model, though adds the small SUV will be adapted to “local and continental requirements”. It furthermore says the vehicle – which will be based on the MQB-A0 architecture – “has the potential to be sold in other African markets where Volkswagen has a presence”. Keep this in mind as you read on.
Right, let’s take a closer look at the nameplates in question. Cars.co.za can confirm that Volkswagen’s head office in Wolfsburg applied to trademark the following 7 badges (in class 12, covering vehicles) in South Africa on 18 January 2024:
- Tera
- Teria
- Taroko
- Tivas
- Tyber
- Therion
- Tamiz
At the time of writing (in April 2024), the status of each application was still listed as “pending”. For the record, Volkswagen also filed to trademark all of these monikers with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, making these applications between July and September 2023.
In addition, we discovered that applications to protect all 7 nameplates were furthermore made in various other African markets (in February 2024), including Ghana, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Kenya and Tunisia. VW, of course, has a significant presence in each of these countries.
What about the Brazilian market, since that’s where the newcomer’s development is taking place? Well, intriguingly, of the 7 names in question, VW has so far filed to trademark only the “Tera” and “Therion” badges in Brazil (along with “Hera”), making these applications in December 2023. The Therion trademark is furthermore pending in some other Latin American countries, such as Costa Rica, Uruguay and Mexico.
While that could potentially narrow down the options of what Volkswagen might call the upcoming addition to its T-SUV family, there’s one particularly fascinating badge in the list of 7 that we should highlight. Yes, the “Taroko” nameplate – a single letter away from the Tarok concept of 2018 – might just be reserved for an upcoming unibody bakkie.
Martina Biene, Chairperson and Managing Director of Volkswagen Group Africa, revealed to Cars.co.za back in April 2023 that “there is hope” an SA-built bakkie will be spun off the new small SUV (and thus also built at Kariega), hinting at a “bigger than half-tonne” model with a 750 kg payload.
While earlier reports suggested this sub-Amarok unibody bakkie might wear the “Udara” badge, the Tarako moniker seems to be a far better fit, at least from where we’re standing. For the record, VW has also applied to trademark this name in the various other African markets mentioned above.
Of course, we should point out that these trademark applications are by no mean guarantees that Volkswagen will use the badges in question (on the new small SUV or indeed at all). In addition, since 2027 is still some way off, the picture could certainly change – and new potential names be thrown into the hat – before the vehicle actually starts rolling off the Kariega production line.
Still, we believe there’s at least a fair chance that one of these monikers will be applied to the upcoming SA-built model. Naturally, only time will tell…
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