With the sun shining in London, and sporty little cars buzzing round the streets near my office, I was reminded of a peculiar fact about the UK. For years we’ve bought more convertible cars than our Continental friends in France, Italy and Spain:
Despite the weather, British motorists are far more likely to drive convertible cars than their Continental counterparts. Sales of soft-top vehicles in Britain, which are now at about 60,000 a year, are twice as high as in Italy and 10 times higher than in Spain.
Whereas Britons have to make do with an average of 51 days of sunshine each year, the Italians and Spanish enjoy nearly 140 days.
Even the Scots have been getting in on the action:
A total of 7,200 convertibles were sold in Scotland [in 2005], up 20 per cent from 2003.
The increase reflects a UK-wide trend, with British convertible sales outstripping those in many sun-drenched European countries, including Italy, Spain and Portugal.
So what on earth’s going on? It’s hard to believe that a nation so famously obsessed with its own weather is full of car buyers oblivious to the climate. Any explanation is going to need to take account of the fact that luxury cars are both consumption goods (they get you from A to B) and signals (they show how successful/daring/fun-loving you are – or at least, you think they do…)
So here are some possibilities:
1. In a truly hot climate, car buyers want a solid roof and air conditioning. Convertibles are actually perfect for a country where even when it’s sunny, it ain’t always hot.
2. Sunshine is so valuable (because so scarce) to the British, that they will buy cars which are less safe, more tempting for thieves, and less structurally sound – all to be able to feel the precious rays on their heads, even when driving.
3. A convertible signals optimism – about the weather, but also about life more generally.
4. A convertible signals that I am affluent enough to go on holiday (with my car) enough to require a soft top.
5. The sporty convertible hits a romantic soft-spot in the heart of any British car fanatic. We had the Lotus Elan, the MG, and the Mazda MX-5 (alright, the last one’s Japanese – but they did explicitly set out to update the classic British convertible sportscar).
I’m sure there are others. Luckily I’m far too rational, far too well-versed in the dark arts of automobile marketing, to fall for the convertible. Way too rational. Definitely.
Although… The guy who passed me in an MX-5 today did look awfully happy…