The Mk3 VW Golf Cabrio
Before you begin firing off the hate mail, you can’t deny that the VW Golf Cabrio (or it’s father, the Rabbit Convertible) is purchased primarily by the two groups mentioned above. It’s also one of the favorite drop-tops of the AARP set, since it’s reasonably priced and relatively modest in performance. If you fall into one of these categories, or if you just like the concept of a topless Golf, you’re in luck: VW has announced production of a third generation Golf Cabrio, with a launch scheduled for spring 2011.
The cars will be built in VW’s Osnabrück factory, the site of a former Karmann assembly plant. Though now modernized, the site has a long history of producing classic VW bodies, including the original Rabbit and Scirocco. When production ramps up, the facility will employ 1,800 workers by the end of 2011.
The Golf Cabrio was dropped from the lineup in 2002, ultimately replaced by the VW New Beetle Convertible in 2003. Volkswagen introduced a second convertible, the retractible hard top Eos, in 2006. Eos sales have been modest since launch, due partially to its higher price and somewhat bland styling. Now that VW is relaunching the Golf Cabrio, will the revised New Beetle even come in topless form? Will the Eos continue on or be dropped from the lineup? We’ll let you know as soon as VW tells us.