I can hear it now: "It's so cute!" Take a look at Volkswagen's retractable hardtop coupe, the Eos. Named after the Greek goddess of dawn, go ahead and take a wild guess at which gender VW is marketing the Eos to appeal to. The 1998+ Beetle was, and still is, a "chick car" and the Eos will probably be stereotyped in a similar fate. The previous Cabriolet softtop, which the Eos is set to replace, had about an 80% female ownership, according to a post on the VehicleVoice blog.
Volkswagen's Eos has the potential to be a key player in a very narrow and unique segment of affordable retractable hardtops, which includes other entries such as the Pontiac G6 and Volvo C70. The Eos' closest German retractable roof rival is the Mercedes-Benz SLK, but the SLK doesn't exactly fit into the affordable segment. However, when the optional 250-horsepower V6 is dumped into the Eos, raising the price to nearly $40,000, the base SLK280 seems worth it for only $4,000 more. But who would want a $40,000 chick car, other than, well, a chick? Good luck, Volkswagen.
No comments:
Post a Comment