Volkswagen AG has recently announced its ongoing talks with MAN AG and Scania AB regarding a possible merger. Europe’s largest automaker has also denied previous reports that states that the merger talks have collapsed—reported Bloomberg.

Andreas Meurer, Volkswagen spokesman said via a telephone interview: "We are still in talks with both companies but there is no urgent need to reach a conclusion right away."

Likewise, it was also reported in the magazine Focus that the latest discussions were supposedly ended right after Scania Chief Executive Officer Leif Oestling insisted that the merged company should be under the control of Scania and must be based in Sweden. After having said that, no announcement of further talks was issued.

Ferdinand Piech, the Chairman of Volkswagen and MAN has been trying for weeks to convince the Sweden’s Wallenberg family, which is Scania’s second-largest shareholder to accept the deal, that is according to reports on Focus. Unfortunately, all the efforts of the VW’s big boss were all in vain.

Still on Volkswagen, the coachbuilder Karmann which is famous for its classic 1955 Karmann Ghia has presented a four-seater drop-top Polo Cabrio which showcased the firm’s newest folding-roof technology at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Aside from the folding-roof technology, the soft-top Polo Cabrio possesses GTI-inspired styling. The canvas top has two sliding glass sections at the front and rear to allow the fresh air into the cabin. These are operated separately from the roof while the rear window enables easy access to the boot as compared to any regular supermini cabrios. Other impressive features include the folding back seats, which extends to the luggage area without requiring for any intrusive body-strengthening structures.

This is made possible through the introduction of COPS or the Cabrio Overhead Protection System which employs fixed rollover bars behind the rear seats to improve crash safety as well as increase improve the structure of the vehicle. The Karmann’s system is also different from conventional roll bars in the sense that it’s lighter. However, the designers didn’t just content themselves with that, they perfectly took the VW’s proportions and then added extra length on the Polo’s tail by 130mm plus widen the track by 40mm.

At the front of the Cabrio is the trademark GTI black honeycomb grille while black alloy wheels with a striking red rim were placed all-round.

Mechanical changes were not that extensive but just to enhance the already aggressive look of the Polo Cabrio, its engineers have given it a new exhaust system with twin pipes mounted in the center of the bumper. The soft-top Polo Cabrio was produced to showcase the engineering expertise of Karmann.  

Unfortunately, there are no plans yet of putting the soft-top Polo Cabrio into production despite the fact that the company has seen a strong demand for convertibles with fabric hoods. As a matter of fact even Audi and BMW has their own cloth-roofed versions namely the Audi A3 and BMW’s 1-Series respectively so hopefully Volkswagen will reconsider the ragtop Polo.