We don't know about you, but the Nivus crossover designed in South America seems way cooler than the small European Volkswagens. Maybe this division should be in charge of other projects as well.
VW South America was always a big business. They took the Beetle like a duck to water, and for a while, the factory in Brazil was VW's biggest. They also made the super-sexy SP2, which is on the verge of becoming a cult car.
Anyway, the Nivus has a far nicer front end than the T-Cross, even though the two models are probably very closely related. Its LED headlights seem keener, almost as if VW of Brazil doesn't care about its 60YO retired buyers.
We've never been big fans of the T-Cross, and the latest Polo is also an offender. Once one of the most popular cars in Europe, this supermini compact was renewed in 2018 and suffers from a lack-luster front end.
Designer Kleber Silva decided to fix that with his own version of a 2022 Polo facelift, featuring the front end from the Nivus. The larger grille is perhaps the most noteworthy feature, and it's surprising how it doesn't look out of proportion with the rest of the car.
Kleber also rendered out the Virtus facelift, this being a sedan version of the Polo that stopped being offered in Europe a while back. The Virtus just got a GTS mild-performance model today, together with the Polo. Check though out in the videos below.
Speaking of performance, we have got something a little more juicy, a Nivus R rendering. It's purely fictional, of course. The technology is all there, but the brand has no incentive to make it happen.
A couple of years ago, SEAT did test out a small crossover with the 2-liter turbo from the Polo GTI (197 hp). But everybody decided it was a bad idea and the development money went to the EVs.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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