Who doesn’t love a convertible? Although admittedly, convertibles make little sense in a hot and humid country like Malaysia. Usually, open top cars are likely to sell more in countries like Europe and America. Not anymore, as now sales of convertibles have dropped for the last seven years that the manufacturers of convertible systems are hitting the panic button. According to Autofacts, in 2007 about 827,000 convertibles were built in the North America and Europe. Last year, the figure was dropped to 444,000, and continued to fall in 2014.
There are currently three main roof suppliers for convertibles – Webasto, Magna CTS and Valmet and all of them recorded decreasing demand for canvas roofs and folding hardtops. Holger Engelmann, the CEO of Webasto, said that if the decline continues, they are no longer able to support themselves. Finnish based Valmet now plans to shutdown its operations in Osnabrueck, Germany, by 2017.
The consumer’s change of taste was blamed for the drop of sales of convertible cars, with consumers shifting their preference towards modern and hi-tech cars such as electric hybrids, crossovers and SUVs. A trend researcher has added that consumers would prefer something unique by buying cars such as the Tesla or the BMW i3 rather than a mundane open-top version of the Beetle or 3 series.
However, with cars such as the new Mazda MX-5 that’s gaining traction amongst car enthusiasts, perhaps convertibles may find there is light at the end of the tunnel after all.
[Source: Autoblog]
