Volkswagen unwraps new Golf convertible

Volkswagen has revealed a new convertible version of the Golf. The car will make its public debut at the Geneva motor show next week before going on sale across Europe in May.

North American sales are rumored, but no official time frame for an introduction has been announced.

The new Golf convertible retains the familiar front-end styling of the existing hatchback version of Europe's perennial best seller, albeit with a slightly more heavily raked windshield.

In keeping with Golf tradition, the car uses a fabric roof. The fully automatic structure, developed in partnership with Karmann, is claimed to open in less than 10 seconds. It folds and stows in an exposed position above the trunk and can be operated with the car moving at speeds of up to 19 mph.

To preserve the Golf's familiar lines, the upper section of the roof forms part of the bodywork when stowed, giving the rear of the car a clean and cohesive look despite the lack of a hard tonneau cover.

Departing from the earlier Golf convertibles, the new model does away with the large fixed roll hoop over the middle of the cabin.

VW says the Golf convertible uses a variety of safety systems. Included as standard are automatically deploying rollover hoops behind the rear seats and front, side and knee airbags.

Volkswagen also upgraded the Golf's body structure and floorpan to compensate for the structural rigidity lost by losing the steel roof. Changes include a beefed-up windshield frame, along with aluminum and steel strengthening elements in the engine bay, bulkheads, side sills and doors. Torsional rigidity is claimed to better than that of the Beetle convertible and the Eos--a factor Wolfsburg insiders also suggest makes it a more engaging drive than either of its open-top stablemates.

Dimensionally, the Golf convertible is close to the Eos; length is put at 167 inches, width at 70.1 inches and height at 55.9 inches with the top closed. The cabin provides seating for four.

The Golf convertible shares its platform with the Audi A3 convertible.

The engine lineup includes a familiar range of four-cylinder engines in Europe. Among the direct-injection gasoline engines is a base 1.2-liter with 105 hp, a pair of 1.4-liter units developing 122 hp and 160 hp, and a range-topping 2.0-liter with 210 hp.

The powertrain lineup in Europe also includes two common-rail diesel engines--a 1.6-liter unit with 105 hp and a 2.0-liter unit producing 140 hp.