Joining the Range Rover Evoque Convertible and Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet, the Skoda Sunroq is yet another open-top SUV with no real purpose other than showing off. But as opposed to the Range Rover and Nissan, the Skoda is a one-off designed and developed by a team of students at the automaker’s vocational school.
Following the Citijet, Funstar, Atero, and Element, the fifth concept built by these youngsters started life as a Karoq compact crossover. Hacking the roof off was the first thing on the agenda, leaving the running gear intact. The working prototype features the 1.5-liter TSI with 110 kW (150 PS) and six-speed manual, translating to 8.4 seconds to 100 km/h (62 mph) and a max velocity of 204 km/h (127 mph).
The project started in October 2017, and as you can tell from the photo gallery, the students from Skoda’s trade school left the rear doors and rear seats in place. For some reason or other, the youngsters thought that it would be a great idea to fit LED lights underneath the front bumper, projecting the word Skoda twice onto the road.
As you would expect from such a conversion, the Sunroq retains the wheelbase, length, and width of the donor vehicle. And no, Skoda doesn’t plant to morph the Sunroq into a production model. Part of the reasoning comes in the form of the T-Roc Convertible, which VW will launch into production at some point in 2020.
Twinned with the SEAT Ateca and succeeding the Yeti, the Skoda Karoq rides on the MQB vehicle architecture. The name is a combination of two Aleutian words (Kaa’Raq and Ruq, meaning car and arrow), and pricing starts at K 529,900 in the Czech Republic.
The engine lineup starts with the 1.0 TSI, continues with the 1.5 TSI, and tops with the 1.6-liter TDI and 2.0-liter TDI as far as displacement is concerned. All-wheel drive is exclusive to the 2.0 TDI SCR, while the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission can be had on the 1.5-, 1.6-, and 2.0-liter powerplants.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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