The top-down joyride is losing its charm. New data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reveals a 34 per cent plunge in convertible registrations over the past year, as British carmakers rush to re-tool factories for electric vehicle production. Sources inside the industry confirm that the drop-off is not a mere blip but a structural shift driven by two forces: the relentless march of electrification and the cold calculus of profit margins.
At the heart of the slump lies a fundamental incompatibility. Convertibles, with their complex folding roofs and compromised aerodynamics, are engineering nightmares for battery range. An executive at a major Midlands manufacturer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told me: 'You can’t stick a heavy battery pack into a convertible without killing the look, the handling, and the range. It’s a dead platform for EVs.' The result is a market abandoned by British brands. Jaguar, long a stalwart of the convertible segment with its F-Type, has confirmed it will not produce an electric successor. Meanwhile, Bentley’s electric future remains a mystery, and Rolls-Royce has signalled that its next Dawn model may never see a production line.
The numbers are brutal. Convertible sales in the UK fell to just 12,400 units in 2023, down from 18,800 in 2022. That’s a decline steeper than the broader car market, which saw a 17 per cent rise overall due to EV adoption. The segment now accounts for a mere 0.6 per cent of all new car sales, a figure that industry analysts expect to shrink further. The British climate is rarely invoked by executives as a factor, but one dealership manager in Manchester put it bluntly: 'We’ve had three convertibles on the forecourt for six months. One sold because the buyer was moving to Spain.'
The pivot to electric is not a choice but a mandate. The government’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, effective from 2024, requires 22 per cent of each manufacturer’s sales to be electric, rising to 100 per cent by 2035. Failing to comply means fines of £15,000 per non-ZEV car. Car companies are thus killing off niche, low-volume models to funnel investment into profitable EVs. Convertibles are a prime casualty. Documents leaked from a Ford board meeting in 2022 explicitly list the convertible as a 'legacy product with negative ROI' and recommend phasing it out by 2025. Ford declined to comment.
Not all is lost for open-top enthusiasts. German luxury brands have plugged the gap. The BMW 4 Series Convertible and Mercedes-Benz CLE Cabriolet continue to sell, albeit in lower volumes. But these are imported, not built in Britain. The domestic manufacturing base, once home to MG and Triumph convertibles, has all but vanished. Last year, only a handful of convertibles were assembled in the UK, all by niche sports car makers like Morgan and Caterham. Their survival depends on low volume and high price. A Morgan Plus Four starts at £62,000, far beyond the average car buyer.
The economic impact is subtle but real. Convertible production lines supported thousands of jobs in Coventry and Oxford. With those lines retooled for electric SUVs and crossovers, the skills base for convertible engineering is atrophying. 'You can’t just turn a convertible designer into an EV drone designer,' said a former Jaguar engineer. 'These people are leaving the industry or retiring. When the economy turns, we won’t be able to revive that expertise.'
So who is buying convertibles now? Only the wealthy and die-hard enthusiasts. A sales manager at a London dealership reported that over 70 per cent of his convertible sales are to buyers purchasing a second or third car for weekend use. 'No one is relying on a convertible as their daily driver anymore. It’s a toy. And toys are the first thing to go when money gets tight.'
The full picture: convertible sales are not dead but dying, a luxury product strangled by regulation and market forces. The British motor industry, once a bastion of open-top motoring, has turned its back on the sun-seeker. The electric revolution is remaking the car business in its own image, leaving convertibles to collect dust in showrooms. The only question left is whether any British brand will dare to build an electric convertible before the 2035 deadline. Don’t hold your breath.
