The little Peugeot arguably started the vogue for retractable hardtops when it was first launched in 2007, and followed it was a similar variant of its 307. Other carmakers all came in on the compact opentops, including Volkswagen with its EOS, Opel with its Astra TwinTop (above), and Ford's Focus Coupe-Cabriolet.
There are also more traditional soft-top cabriolets, notably from VW Group cars such as the Beetle, Audi A3 and Audi A5. In fact, there are currently 12 cabriolet variants across the whole Volkswagen Group range. Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn wants to trim those down to just two.
Markets for convertibles have traditionally been mainly in the US, the UK, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. But the open-top has suffered because of rising interest in SUVs.
