It's been more than two years since I last looked into the availability of all-electric convertibles, so I thought I'd do a quick check to see where things stand now. Here's a rundown (in alphabetical order) on the models I mentioned in that post, plus a couple of others I've added since then:
- Fisker Ronin: Fisker went bankrupt.
- Genesis X Convertible: Still a concept car with no production announced.
- Maserati GranCabrio Folgore: orderable, but it's not clear that deliveries have occurred. Pricing starts at $206,700 in the United States.
- MG Cyberster: available in the UK and Europe, but not in the United States. Pricing starts at £54,995 in the UK.
- Mini Cooper SE Convertible: Canceled.
- Polestar 6: Not yet available. Estimated for model year 2028.
- Porsche 718: Postponed and not yet available. Estimated for model year 2027.
- Smart Fortwo Cabrio: Discontinued.
- Wiesmann Project Thunderball: Postponed and not yet available.
All in all, a pretty gloomy picture for those of us who yearn for an EV analogue to the Miata. Sigh.
2 comments:
I wonder if there is a fundamental reason for this? Perhaps the negative effects of having the top down on the coefficient of drag make it a bad idea for EVs.
I think the primary problem is that convertibles don't sell well, so bringing them to market is not a high priority for manufacturers. Other issues, such as battery weight and top-down aerodynamic drag probably play a factor, but googling indicates that convertibles comprise less than 1% of the global car market and only about 0.6% of the US car market, so manufacturers don't have a lot of incentive to invest in their production. Announcing them still turns heads, however, which could explain why Genesis, Polestar, Wiesmann, and Porsche announced convertible EVs years ago that they have yet to turn into production models (and, like Mini, may never do so).
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