Is the convertible heading into the sunset?

"Everyone's too focused on SUVs these days," says Steve Bassett. Like Peter, he's a stalwart member Yorkshire Ridings branch of the MX-5 Owners Club. "I think people should be able to come back to the simple, elegant roadster".Will they make a comeback?It is important to remember that the last rites for the convertible have been read before. In the 1970s and 1980s, for example, sales plummeted as stricter safety restrictions made them more expensive to build, while consumer tastes moved towards high-performance hatchbacks. The increasing prevalence of air conditioning, meanwhile, took away part of the convertible's USP.Yet ultimately, sales did recover and hit new records in the early 2000s. So do convertibles have a future now? According to Philip Nothard, that will depend on getting manufacturing costs down, at a time when the auto industry is heavily focused on developing electric cars.The manufacturers most likely to do this, he thinks, are the Chinese firms currently moving into the market."They can manufacture vehicles at much lower cost," he says. "So if you're someone who's passionate about convertibles and you want to see affordable models, It might be best to wait for the Chinese to take a bigger slice of the market."There are currently only two convertible electric models on sale in the UK, and one of those is indeed built in China.The MG-cyberster" class="entity-link entity-topic" data-entity-id="146461" data-entity-type="topic">MG Cyberster is a sleek, open-topped two-seater that appears to have been designed specifically to exploit the heritage of the once-British MG brand, famous for roadsters such as the MGA and MGB.