Volkswagen Eos Production Ending in May

The Eos is gone, how will VW fill their “California Girl Cabriolet” hole?

The official word from Volkswagen is out. The company has announced that it will discontinue the Eos in May or June of the present year.

The Volkswagen Eos was launched in 2006, when there was good demand for folding hardtop convertibles. It sold around 230,000 units at that time. But the market for these cars took a nosedive shortly afterwards, and the Eos could not go off the ground. Volkswagen only produced 8,000 units in 2013 globally, and the demand for convertibles in the US went down by 18% in 2014 to just 3,411. One of the main reasons for the demise of the Eos is the switching of consumer preference in Europe from hard top convertibles to soft-top cars in the last few years. Another reason is probably the fact that Volkswagen has not made many changes in the Eos, other than a small upgrade in 2012, in the whole 9-year life span of the model.

Over a couple of years back, Volkswagen had warned customers about the demise of the Eos and the stoppage of production is occurring for real. During the entire 9 year of lifespan, around 230,000 units of the Eos have been constructed and sold.

A spokesman from Volkswagen told Automotive News, “After nine years and roughly 230,000 units built, production of the Eos in Portugal will end in May/June”. The Eos is assembled at a plant located in Setubal in Portugal. Other than the Eos, the plant also witnesses the assembly of Sharan, Scirocco and Seat Alhambra which is the sister model.

If you want to purchase a new Volkswagen Eos convertible, it is recommended that you order one quickly. Internal documents suggest that the company will take final orders from buyers at the end of March for the Eos. It was in 2014 that the auto making giant introduced the Final Edition of the Eos for the 2015 model year in the US. The edition seems to reaffirm the fact that the company does not have any plans to construct a successor some time soon. As the market for convertibles is still small, a replacement is unlikely as Volkswagen will make the development of more SUVs and crossovers its main priority.

Source: Data and information presented on this blog have been sourced from http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2015/02/volkswagen-eos-production-ending-in-may.html