I love convertibles. I’ve had one or another since the mid-1980’s. Here you will learn that - strictly speaking - convertible sales in the US exceed total sedan sales in the US.

The history of convertibles is easy to look up, but briefly:

The US was expected to ban convertibles in the mid-70’a for rollover risk. Car makers scrambled to replace them with other forms of removable tops. We got T-tops, Targas (see Porsche) and similar. Tech improved, pop-up roll-bars proved to be more effective rollover protection than many so-called hard-tops, talks of a ban were dropped. Instead, we got mpg requirements (CAFE) in 1978. Trucks and SUVs were exempt, so auto-makers “pushed” those into the American mainstream. And they became better and increasingly attractive. Fast forward, in the last 10 years sedans fell from around 40% of sales to around 15%. About 20% of that 15%, (or 2% of total US sales) are now 2-door sedans.

Convertibles require “stiffening” reinforcement to drive well. This adds weight, expense and complexity. Large or 4-passenger convertibles are difficult and expensive to build. They are now very rare, limited to “exotic”brands. So the target market for convertibles is some fraction of 2-door sedan buyers, which is already down to 2% of the market.

The glaring exceptions to all this are the Jeep Wrangler and the Ford Bronco, which have are heavily marketed for their removable roofs or convertible tops. This is by far our largest “convertible” market in the US with sales exceeding TOTAL sedan sales, (around 2.5% of all vehicles when all variants are included). Notably, most of these are four-passenger vehicles. One could easily argue that convertibles are still hugely popular, it’s simply that sedans have fallen out of favor.