Convertible sales UK

"Dori A Schmetterling" haute in die Tasten:

The fact that the Number 4, the Peugeot 307CC, has also a steel foldable roof, may lead one to the assumption, that there is some context to the fine british weather;-) OTOH it seems strange to me that neither the Mercedes SLK nor the Renault Megane made it into the top ten. IMHO SLKs sell better than CLKs in Germany.

Frank

You pomms are whack. Here in Australia only 231 206CCs, and 268 BMW 3's have been sold YTD.

"David Z" haute in die Tasten:

Given the fact that there are 5 times more Brits than Aussies and that you either need a hat or a sun blocker made in outer space to survive australian sun, these sales figures do not sound too strange for me;-)

Frank

The population of the UK is not even 3 times that of Australia. Yet you sell 19 times as many 260CCs, and 15 times as many 3-series convertibles. And your weather is just as unsuitable for convertibles as ours.

In truly sunny countries sales of convertibles are miniscule. Here in GB we want to capture every moment of precious sunshine...we open our rooves at about 15 deg C, if not sooner...

In Europe certainly more cabrios are sold in Britain than anywhere else, big Germany included.

Of course we are wacko, we know that...I've got a cabrio, too...

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Well firstly, I used to live in South Florida which was sunny almost all the time, and convertibles were extremely popular. They are also popular in Southern California where its also very sunny.

Here in Melbourne, Australia, it is NOT sunny all the time. In winter and most of spring, its overcast and rainy. Yet convertibles still do not do well.

Perhaps something might hop into the passenger seat if the top was down?

There are three very sober reasons why:

If BMW Australia (and the Oz government) didn't nail Australians quite so hard, they'd sell more. But then BMW Australia would lose its precious, super-premium, maximum-margin positioning. As a consolation, BMWs in Oz depreciate slower than they do in the UK.

Actually I think Australian weather is quite acceptable for open top driving. Ya got a great big sky, a sometimes sweltering sun and lot's of interesting scenery. I don't know why ragtops don't sell well there, but it seems a bit strange to me that it would be because of weather. In the US, regardless of the weather other than rain, people do seem to enjoy their convertibles. Here in Colorado the tops come down in March/April and stay that way until October/November.

On cool days you turn on the heater and on hot days you drive faster and run red lights :^)

I thought that was why most of us DO buy convertibles....... : - )

In the Middle East there are very few convertibles.

DAS

If the sun is common, you may want to stay out of it. Hence the popularity of the convertible in the UK. ;-) I'm still surprised how often you see them here with the hood up on a fine day. Can't see the point if you don't make use of it as much as possible. On a very hot day, of course, you may prefer the air-con.

Like yesterday afternoon, when I was poodling up the M3 towards London. Temp c. 20 deg and very pleasant. Saw convertibles with roof up but, of course, they may have had stuff on seats which they did not want blown about or unappreciative passengers...

DAS

I once travelled the length of the M4 in the back of a MPW R-R with the hood down - not a pleasant experience. But I ran an MG Midget for over a year with no hood - only a tonneau cover - after buying it as a rolled write off and rebuilding it. The hood frame was broken, and that was the last part I sourced.

The UK's patchy good weather means Brits tend to appreciate it more, and make more of it. For some reason the rest of the world thinks you can only have the top down in sunny weather - do cars elsewhere on the globe not have heaters or something?

Further you have to look at the suitability of 3er convertibles to the country as a whole. They may be suitable for the suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne (pop: 7.5m combined) but elsewhere they don't really match the Australian lifestyle.

If you think BMW sales are low in Australia, how low do you think ute sales are in the UK?

convertibles.

Hmm, Australia is one of the most urbanized countries. More people live in rural areas in the UK or the US than here in Australia.

"Andrew Thomas" >

You could buy a Viper. I leave the roof and windows home in the garage and drive it in all weather except rain. And with the V-10 engine, you hardly need a heater at all..... : - )

They sold a few Vipers here in Australia in 2002/3, as Chryslers. I think the price tag was something like $255,000. (thats about US $175,000)!

I'm only partly joking. For the price of a single new S Class Mercedes, you could do what I have done, which is to purchase BOTH a 99 S 420 (current price for one with under 100,000 miles is about $30,000 USD, and a 96 Dodge Viper with a V-10 (or other convertible sports cars) for about $40,000 USD.

If you can afford a Mercedes S Class ($80,000 USD) or E Class ($60,000 USD) you can have a convertible for all the days it doesn't rain, and a sedan for carrying people, grocery shopping, rain days, etc.

Larry