What happened to the retractable hard-top convertible?

Despite our country lacking consistent open-top motoring seasons, Australians love a convertible.

A convertible design that became really popular in the early 2000s, with its better longevity and security than a soft-top, was the retractable hard-top convertible.

There are no worries about someone knifing the cloth soft-top in an attempt to break in or as an easy act of vandalism, and no concerns about the cloth roof material fading, wearing out and eventually leaking.

The hard-top convertible has the potential for far better noise suppression than a fabric roof when the top is up, too.

There used to be plenty of hard-top convertibles available in Australia, but not now.

So what happened?

The hard-top convertible was first used with the Peugeot 301 in the 1930s, and had a few other false starts including with the 1957 Ford Fairlane Skyliner.

The concept only really took hold with the 1996 Mercedes-Benz SLK, with its hard-top, power-fold Vario roof.

Unlike previous efforts, the SLK was designed from the ground up with its powered, folding metal roof.

Other manufacturers took a close look at the SLK’s relatively simple, innovative folding roof design and realised that there was market for such cars.

So began the launch of a stream of ‘coupe-cabriolets’ – hard-roof convertibles that included plenty of affordable metal in the form of the Ford Focus, Holden Tigra and Astra, Peugeot 206, 207, 307 and 308, the Renault Megane, Volkswagen Eos and others.

The technology wasn’t just used in cheaper segments either, with more premium models such as the Lexus SC 430, BMW 3 Series and Volvo C70 hard-top convertibles.

So the hard-top convertible market was booming before two major cataclysmic events occurred, summed up by the acronyms GFC and SUV.

The 2008 global financial crisis slowed discretionary spending on things like sports cars and coupes, and with it the number of retractable hard-top convertibles being developed began to drop away.

Also, fewer people were indulging in any convertible, when a far more practical and arguably just as fashionable purchase could be made: a premium SUV.

Speaking of fashionable, part of the attraction of a retracting hard-top convertible was the roof in action: it was pure theatre.

While the folding operation was like watching a Transformer toy in action, the fascination of watching a hard-top convertible power up or down was no longer a novelty.

Given a declining number of convertible sales generally, would manufacturers spend development money on a heavier, more expensive hard-top roof system when a cheaper fabric alternative would do?

Not likely.

In fact, mainstream manufacturers from Ford (in Europe) to Volvo seem to have put the brakes on development of any affordable convertibles.

The SUV market hasn’t seen much convertible action, either. Land Rover no longer sells the Range Rover Evoque Convertible here, while Volkswagen hasn’t signalled its intention to market the Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet in Oz, either.

How many hard-top convertibles remain on the Australian market today? Astonishingly, there are only six left – and all except one are supercars.

They are:

The convertible market has returned to its soft-top roots, with 21 such cloth-top models available in Australia today, ranging in price from $37,690 plus on-road costs for the Mazda MX-5, to $569,712 plus ORCs for the Aston Martin DBS Volante.

Up until recently, the Rolls-Royce Dawn (at $800,000-plus) was also on that list, but Rolls has just announced it is no longer importing two-door models to Australia.

The BMW 2 Series Convertible has also been in run-out, with a replacement not anticipated with the next-generation model.

New soft-top convertibles available in Australia today

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