Volkswagen Goes Whimsical With T-Cross Breeze SUV

By Justin Hyde

For a company still grappling with a scandal over diesel emissions, Volkswagen has chosen a strangely happy concept car to reveal at the Geneva Motor Show. Meet the T-Cross Breeze, a beach buggy that previews a new line of small SUVs, and perhaps, VW’s comeback.

Convertible SUVs haven’t been much of a hit in recent years, between the design crime that was the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet and the inherent contradiction in such a machine. SUVs sell in large part for their sense of safety and cold-weather performance; chopping off their roofs often creates the automotive equivalent of a houseboat—not a good house, not a good boat.