Mazda, Honda, Porsche, BMW, Ford, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce–virtually every company that builds cars has offered a convertible at some point in its history. But can you name a car company–big or small–that never made a convertible?
And to define our term…
I tried to get smart and started googling odd balls like Tatra, but any company that existed pre WWI for certain, and effectivly pre WWII pretty much had to have a convertible as closed cars weren't originally the norm.
Best I've come up with so far is Alpine, as in the small French (now sub brand) of Renault, not the models from Talbot, Sunbeam etc.
Delorean and Bricklin for sure. FSO Warszawa maybe? Tiny ones line ErAZ, Bulgaralpine. David Brown Automotive, Vector.
Has Subaru offered a factory convertible?
There must be Chinese DM OEMs who qualify, but the brands are so interrelated it might be hard to make the case.
paddygarcia said:Has Subaru offered a factory convertible?
Sort of. The 360 had a removable canvas roof with sedan sides.
Beyond the occasional one-miss-wonders, it looks like Lamborghini built a few targa-roof cars but nothing you could completely put the top down on.
Rivian. They have cars on the road now, so I'm counting them.
Scion. Not sure if we can count them different from Toyota or not.
Oh, a few more I just thought of:
mtn said:Oh, a few more I just thought of:
- Ram. Are they different than Dodge?
- Hyundai. I don't think they've had one anywhere at any time, though I could be wrong. Definitely not in the US. Kia did have a Sportage convertible, as well as a rebadged Lotus Elan, so they're out.
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RAM is different from Dodge but I'm not sure that they should produce a convertible.
Actually, now that I've typed that I think a ragtop, short bed 1500 with the Power Wagon package would be pretty cool.
APEowner said:RAM is different from Dodge but I'm not sure that they should produce a convertible.
If we're going to wade into that particular gray area, this has only been true since 2010 and that was simply a spinoff of Dodge's truck lineup. So I'd argue that any Dodge truck prior to 2010 would by today's standards be a "Ram" brand vehicle... Thus 1989-1991 Dodge (Ram) Dakota Convertible.
Alpine sold rather pretty cabrio versions of the A108 and maybe A110;
In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
Well damn!
APEowner said:Actually, now that I've typed that I think a ragtop, short bed 1500 with the Power Wagon package would be pretty cool.
Isn't that just a Gladiator?
It seems like Iso, somehow, did not sell any convertibles. Per Wikipedia anyway. How is that even possible?
Only carmaker I can think of is DMC. I bet a convertible DeLorean would be a leaky, creaky dream.
The Koreans have never offered a convertible CAR in the US.
This eliminates the early Kia Sportage, more truck-like offering. How does that play with the rest of the article which says:
And to define our terms, "convertible" includes cars with Targa (and Targa-style) tops, barchettas, landaulets, drop-head coupes, roadsters, spiders, and any other car that doesn't feature a fixed hardtop roof.
STM317 said:APEowner said:Actually, now that I've typed that I think a ragtop, short bed 1500 with the Power Wagon package would be pretty cool.
Isn't that just a Gladiator?
Different platform but, I've got a soft spot for the Gladiator as well.
Driven5 said:APEowner said:RAM is different from Dodge but I'm not sure that they should produce a convertible.
If we're going to wade into that particular gray area, this has only been true since 2010 and that was simply a spinoff of Dodge's truck lineup. So I'd argue that any Dodge truck prior to 2010 would by today's standards be a "Ram" brand vehicle... Thus 1989-1991 Dodge (Ram) Dakota Convertible.
That's a valid argument and if one buys onto it then really all of the convertibles built by the many brands under the Chrysler Corp and Fiat Chrysler umbrellas have to be counted.
The whole retractable hardtop convertible fad of the early 2000's got a lot of traditional non-convertible maker making convertibles. Did Lexus ever have a convertible before the SC430?
John Welsh said:The Koreans have never offered a convertible CAR in the US.
This eliminates the early Kia Sportage, more truck-like offering. How does that play with the rest of the article which says:
And to define our terms, "convertible" includes cars with Targa (and Targa-style) tops, barchettas, landaulets, drop-head coupes, roadsters, spiders, and any other car that doesn't feature a fixed hardtop roof.
Kia also had this rebadge in Korea and Japan:
Eagle never made a convertible, though that again calls the question of "does the corporate umbrella count?"
Their sister cars also had convertibles (2nd generation Mitsubishi Eclipse to the Eagle Talon), and a car that they inherited - the AMC Eagle, known as the Eagle Wagon for 1-3 years under the Eagle marque, had a convertible version about a decade earlier.
GMC never made a convertible, neither did Hummer. Chevy, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Geo and Saturn did, but not those two.
APEowner said:Driven5 said:APEowner said:RAM is different from Dodge but I'm not sure that they should produce a convertible.
If we're going to wade into that particular gray area, this has only been true since 2010 and that was simply a spinoff of Dodge's truck lineup. So I'd argue that any Dodge truck prior to 2010 would by today's standards be a "Ram" brand vehicle... Thus 1989-1991 Dodge (Ram) Dakota Convertible.
That's a valid argument and if one buys onto it then really all of the convertibles built by the many brands under the Chrysler Corp and Fiat Chrysler umbrellas have to be counted.
Mergers effectively the opposite scenario of how Ram was so recently (and relatively uniquely) split and rebranded. So no, the two arguments are completely independent from each other, and would each need to stand alone on their own merits. While I can see the logic in backdating the effectivity of such a direct and clearly defined split and rebranding, I have not yet seen (or come up with) a logical argument for backdating the effectivity of a merger.
GMC sold Blazers with removable tops.
Hummer H1's were available as convertibles.
Ram (RAM?) hasn't sold cars so it's outside the scope estabilished in the first post in this thread.
As far as I can tell, Eagle never made a convertible. The 2G Eclipse was a convertible, but the Talon stayed hardtop.
As mentioned, the early K5 Jimmy was a GMC convertible:
About the only recent makers who never had convertibles I can think of are short lived defunct ones like Merkur and Sterling (does anyone even remember Sterling?).
pres589 (djronnebaum) said:GMC sold Blazers with removable tops.
Hummer H1's were available as convertibles.
Ram (RAM?) hasn't sold cars so it's outside the scope estabilished in the first post in this thread.
Of course! But the H1 was only built by AM General, not GMC. GM only marketed and sold the H1, they did not produce it. The argument is null and void however because neither made cars.
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