The fabled and seemingly much desired convertible SUV niche seems to be doing great these days. There’s only one model available out there in this configuration and it hails from Britain. The Range Rover Evoque Convertible is ruling this domain on its own at the moment, after another such attempt failed miserably at becoming popular: the Nissan Murano droptop. Well, things are about to change, with the BMW X2 possibly spawning a convertible version as well, if we’re to believe the latest rumors.
The news comes from Australian magazine Motoring, claiming that an insider from Munich let it slip that the Germans are looking into this niche of niches. According to them, the source claims that business intelligence people over in the headquarters are keeping a very close eye on the sales recorded by the Range Rover Evoque convertible, to see if there’s a market out there for a BMW alternative.
According to our own sources, chances of seeing such a model come to life are slim, at most. If the sales figures of the Range Rover are anything to go by, the X2 in drop top guise won’t show up anytime soon. Even so, one can only dream and, truth be told, the sports activity coupe might actually be the perfect car to transform into such a niche offering. The lower roofline and the thinner greenhouse make it a perfect candidate to have its roof removed.
If it does come to fruition, it will most likely be using 2-liter petrol engines and the exact same underpinnings as the ‘regular’ X2. Performance figures will drop considerably due to the added weight of the retracting mechanism for the roof. Of course, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions will also grow exponentially. Since the X2 with a fixed, sloping roof is yet to enter production itself, we’re still far off both from a decision on whether the drop top would make sense and its production start that would be at least somewhere closer to 2020.
