Buyers Blowing Their Tops For No Tops

By ED GARSTEN AP Auto Writer reported that the car makers are filling a desire by the buying public for convertables.

"They're called convertibles or ragtops in the United States. In Europe, the topless cars are known as cabriolets. To the automakers, they translate into profits as sales of the pop-top vehicles have gone through the roof.

Convertibles are creating a little daylight in passenger car sales that had lagged those of sport utility vehicles in recent years but are now rebounding.

It's all due to the economy, said Art Spinella, who heads CNW Marketing in Bandon, Ore.

"Whenever the economy gets better, sales of convertibles gets better because it's a toy, an extravagance," he said.

Through the first four months of this year, sales of convertibles are up 28 percent compared with the same period a year ago, according to industry sales figures.

Ford Motor Co.'s Mustang convertible is the best selling ragtop in a not-too-crowded field.

Together with the redesigned Thunderbird, Ford convertibles control 17.5 percent of the market, said Robert Fesmire, marketing manager for Mustang and Thunderbird.

"There's incredible health in the convertible market. Last year was the first time in 30 years over 300,000 were sold industrywide," Fesmire said Friday.

The only convertible in the stable of DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group is the Sebring, but it's doing its part in the automaker's turnaround.

Chrysler sold 5 percent more Sebring convertibles in the January-April period than it did during the first four months of 2001, said Chrysler spokesman Marc Henretta.

General Motors Corp. was the exception, experiencing a sales drop of 700 convertibles -- or about 6.9 percent -- so far this year.

"It may just be our strength in trucks is the reason," GM spokesman Jeffrey Roegner said.

Convertible buyers are not necessarily bargain hunters, since ragtops can cost considerably more than the same car with a roof that stays put.

A Mustang coupe sells for about $20,500 while the convertible version costs about $26,000, according to market research firm J.D. Power and Associates.

There's about a $4,400 difference between the Chrysler Sebring coupe and convertible and a $4,848 spread between a Mitsubishi Eclipse and its convertible counterpart, the Eclipse Spyder.

Despite the price disadvantage, J.D. Power found convertibles spend much less time on dealers' lots before they're sold.

A Ford Mustang coupe stays in stock an average of 44 days, while it takes just 38 days to sell the convertible.

The so-called "days to turn" difference between the Chrysler Sebring coupe and convertible is even more dramatic: 117 days for the coupe, only 67 for the convertible, according to J.D. Power.

Men still buy the most convertibles, but the cars' popularity is growing among women, Spinella said.

Women, however, are becoming more concerned compared to men about the safety of a car with a removable roof.

In a study by Spinella's firm of those intending to buy a convertible, women said safety attributes were No. 1 or No. 2 in importance, up from their fifth-ranked concern 10 years ago. Among men, safety has remained a constant fifth over the last decade.

The cars have come a long way, however, from the days when slow sales and safety concerns caused some automakers to stop making convertibles.

"Many cars come with a lot of safety features such as stability control, front air bags -- many features that the average sedan has," said David Champion, director of Consumer Reports' auto test facility."