Despite Pollution Concerns, Mini Banks On Rising Convertible Demand In India

Despite Delhi's poor air quality making convertibles impractical, their sales are rising among affluent buyers.

Mini is launching a new Convertible with an electric roof, retaining the coupe's design and engine.

Source : Somnath Chatterjee

Given Delhi's AQI now, it seems convertibles make zero sense for our climate as well as the roads, but convertible sales have been seeing a steady rise amongst the affluent buyers. The buyers are using these cars for occasional drives and not as a practical car, which explains our climate as well as pollution, not making sense for convertibles.

However, Mini thinks otherwise as its new Convertible puts the focus on open top driving but with an electrically operated roof which can open/close in 18 seconds along with a new design language. Like the coupe, the convertible looks cool and has the same compact proportions with 17-inch wheels plus the tail-lamps having Union Jack detailing, of course.

The engine also continues to be the same 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, just as on the hardtop, while performance is only a bit slower than the coupe. Convertibles typically have less performance than their coupe siblings, but with modern technology, the gap has narrowed, and with an electric folding roof, a downpour can be of no issue since it will take a few seconds to close the roof.

Convertibles add to the sense of occasion, which make them popular which means you don't need to drive fast to enjoy these cars and of course, you can drive them like a coupe most of the time. In India, the Mini Convertible would be one of the most attainable convertibles since it would be priced lower than anything else on the market. We will know the exact pricing as well as the specifications soon for the new Convertible.