That’s the finding of IHS Automotive, which also says that after several years of leadership, mass-market brands offering convertible options have relinquished their standing to premium brands offering new drop-top models.

On a global scale, premium brands have a 55.5% market share compared to 33.1% for mass-market brands. 

“As we move forward,” Tim Urquhart, principal analyst at IHS Automotive, said, “we expect to see the premium brands continue to grow within the convertible market while mass-market OEMs that were not as successful with convertibles in previous years instead concentrate their resources toward popular and, in some cases, more practical, SUVs and crossovers.”

IHS attributed the stagnation of the global convertible vehicle market in the past decade to China’s exponential growth of the auto industry. The firm added that while there is no real culture of Chinese consumers opting for convertible passenger cars, the volumes of traditional vehicles sold in China has outpaced the overall market influencing the overall market share dynamic between traditional options and convertible body styles.

According to IHS sales analysis and forecast sales volumes, China represents just a small percentage of the combined global convertible market with just under 24,000 units sold at its peak in 2012. IHS Automotive forecasts expect this to continue until 2025 with just 1.2% growth in convertible sales in the next decade in China.

It added that the European market is one of the key remaining flourishing markets for convertibles, though it also has undergone significant sales contraction in recent years. In Europe, the convertible market fell by almost 58% between 2004 and 2014, and now represents just one% of the market. From a regional perspective, Germany and the United Kingdom dominate the market in terms of convertible sales with 74% of the combined regional market. This is largely because of the large number of German convertible models that are sold into the domestic market and the affection that UK car buyers have for two-seater roadsters.

Commenting on the North American market, Tim Urquhart added: “North America has always led the global convertible market, but hit a near-record low in 2014 with just 164,000 units sold in the region. While consumers returned to the automotive market, the gain has been in more practical segments, and purchases of convertibles and roadsters have lagged the general automotive market resurgence,” Urquhart said. “However, the North American market is expected to progress on a stable platform over the next few years, led by the launch of the latest iteration of the Ford Mustang in 2016.”

The 2016 forecast is still significantly less than the market's peak of 344,000 units recorded in 2006, according to IHS Automotive. In 2006, however, the market itself saw a pre-Great Recession record not yet matched, which cascaded down to nearly every body type. In addition to the Mustang, the convertible variant of the new Chevrolet Camaro, the Mazda MX-5, the BMW 2-Series and the Buick Cascada (the U.S. market variant of the Opel of the same name) are also forecast to help with the slight recovery of drop-top sales in the region with 208,000 total units forecast for 2016.