A Volkswagen Golf GTI Cabriolet, painted in a pretty shade of red with a black convertible roof. It was a brand new car, freshly arrived from Germany. I saw it in 2013 on a small parking lot next to the Liangma River in central Beijing, not far from Volkswagen’s China headquarters. The place was often used by Volkswagen for parking press cars and sometimes even test cars.
It is common wisdom that convertibles don’t sell in China. This wisdom is totally true. Open cars are simply not popular due to the air pollution, noise, and a lack of open-driving tradition. Even now, with much cleaner air in Beijing than in 2013, this hasn’t really changed.
Still, in 2013 Volkswagen tried to sell the Golf Cabriolet MK6 in China as an import. The Golf hatchback was made locally at the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture. Volkswagen sold the Cabriolet in three kinds: the 160 hp 1.4 TSI, the 211 hp GTI, and even the 256 hp 2.0 R.
The GTI was powered by a turbocharged 2.0 petrol engine. Output was 211 hp and 280 Nm. The motor was mated to a 6-speed DCT, there was no manual option in China. Top speed was 235 km/h with a 0-100 gone in 7.3 seconds.
Lady at the river wears the same color as the Golf.
Price started at 349.800 yuan and ended at 466.800 yuan. The GTI model, like the one here, cost 388.000 yuan. It was an enormous amount of money for a car as small as the Golf Cabriolet and it was no wonder that sales were basically non-existent. Over the years I have never seen a single Golf MK6 Cabriolet on the road. The Cabriolet was mainly intended as a sort of halo-model to attract attention for the normal Golf.
A little while later I found another four (!) Golf GTI Cabriolets at the same location, likely press cars. There were two red cars and two white. Red is better, but white ain’t bad.
The second white car.
The second red one, with the spare wheel on.