Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet to return in 2011
Convertibles, cabriolets, spyders”¦or whatever you feel like calling them were left to be made out of sports coupes like Mustangs, Mercedes SLs, Jaguar XKs. The brilliance of them was uncanny because of their serious starting points. But within the last 10 years, we”ve seen an influx of cars where they chopped off the roof of practically everything. You had cars, we mean, convertible coupes like the Peugeot 206 CC, the Nissan Micra C+C, which according to Jeremy Clarkson, looked like a scrotum, the Mini Cooper cabriolet, and many more. They were the antithesis to man and machine, and essentially made you look like Bruno rather than Borat.
And unfortunately, one of the cars to fall victim to that was the Volkswagen Golf. It was a great hatch that was just decimated by having its head cut off. As a result, Volkswagen axed the Golf Cabrio after the third generation in 2002. Just recently however, VW just announced that a new Golf cabriolet will be launched in 2011, as confirmed by VW boss Martin Winterkorn. The folding origami will be shared with the Audi A3 cabrio, since both cars share the same Golf platform.
It”s purpose is to reintroduce a new soft top car for Volkswagen since the Beetle is coming to the end of its generation with a new one on the way and the other convertible that VAG offers, the Eos is a folding hardtop.
This may mean that the handsome Eos might come to an end as the current trend with the industry is to cut weight from cars in lieu of increasing fuel economy. Another example of this is the next rendition of the BMW 3er, which will regain its soft top in place of the current folding hardtop on the E92.
However, VAG says that it remains “fully committed” to the Eos and just recently, given it a minor update, which will be revealed at the LA Auto Show.
Exact details regarding the Golf Cabrio have yet to be released, but the plan is for the Golf Cabrio to reach UK showrooms by summer 2011, with engines matching with the rest of the Golf lineup, and prices expecting just below £20,000.
– By: Chris Chin
Source: AutoCar
