Why Convertible Sales Have Collapsed and Affordable Drop-Tops Are Disappearing

Convertible sales have completely cratered over the last 15 years. In the UK, only about 12,000 new drop-tops got registered in 2024. Compare that to 2019 when over 36,000 people bought one. Go back to 2010 and it was over 60,000. They used to be around 3% of all car sales. Now? Less than 1%.

SUVs are crushing everything, and convertibles are getting destroyed.

Everything's Gotten Crazy Expensive

BMW axed the Z4 last year, along with the 8 Series Convertible. The Z4's death is pretty telling. Yeah, it cost over $50,000, which isn't exactly cheap, but now most convertibles cost way more than that.

Drop-tops have always been pricier than regular cars because you can't just hack the roof off. The whole body needs to be redesigned. Those folding roof mechanisms aren't cheap either. And since hardly anyone buys convertibles compared to normal cars, the people who do buy them end up eating more of the costs.

There used to be cheaper options though. VW Golf Cabriolet, Peugeot 206 CC, the Audi TT Roadster before they killed it. Around 2010, folding hardtops were everywhere - Peugeot, Ford Focus, Renault Megane, even a Nissan Micra convertible. All dead by 2016. Audi A3 Cabriolet went away in 2020. BMW 2 Series Convertible the year after. Even those weird convertible SUVs are vanishing.

Look at what's actually left under $200,000 right now. Ignore kit cars and bare-bones track cars like the Caterham. There are 16 models total. And six of those are just variants of the BMW 4 Series, Mazda MX-5, and Porsche 911.

Only two cost under $40,000 - the MX-5 and MINI Cooper Convertible. Average price for everything else is like $90,000. Median's around $72,000. Convertibles are turning into rich people toys.

Nobody Needs a Two-Seater Anymore

Some survey found 40% of people skip convertibles because they're just not practical. Can't really argue with that. The Mazda MX-5 is insanely fun to drive even though it only makes 184 horsepower. But it's got a tiny trunk, a fabric roof, and two seats. That doesn't cut it for most people's actual lives.

Money's tight too. Having a fun weekend convertible plus a real car for daily use is a luxury most folks can't afford. Meanwhile SUVs keep selling like crazy. A third of all new cars in the UK last year were SUVs, up from a quarter in 2019.

Maybe a Few Will Stick Around

The MX-5's still here because Mazda's small enough that they need a flashy car to get people's attention. Works for them. People love that thing and it's barely changed in over a decade.

MG launched the Cyberster electric roadster in 2023, trying to bring back their sports car roots. It's one of the first real electric convertibles that isn't just a hatchback with a cloth top like the Fiat 500e.

Mazda's supposedly developing an electric MX-5 with some fancy stacked battery thing to keep the weight low. But that's years out, and electric batteries are still too heavy anyway. Plus who knows if enough people would actually buy an electric convertible to make it worth the money to develop.

Porsche's apparently making an electric Boxster. Some Chinese company just showed off an electric convertible concept. So maybe the whole category isn't totally screwed.

But let's be real. Convertibles are just getting more and more expensive. If you want one and you're not loaded, you're buying used. The affordable convertible is basically gone.