Newswheel @ Geneva: A tale of two coupe-cabriolets

Newswheel staff :: 02 March 2006 :: Filed under Cabriolet, Coupe, Ford, Ford Focus, Volkswagen, Volkswagen Eos, Europe & UK, Trade shows, US,

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Ford vs VW

On paper, it’s no contest. The Eos not only packs the classier VW badge. It also has a completely unique body that enables it to sneer at the hatchback derived likes of Ford’s new Focus CC. But in the metal, there’s a lot less separating Ford’s new folding hard-top equipped Focus from VW’s much delayed Golf-based Eos. Both are elegant, desirable and a clear cut above Peugeot’s 307 CC, the Opel/Vauxhall TwinTop and the Renault Megane Coupe-Cabriolet.

However, if the crowds at Geneva are anything to go by, buyers will indeed be voting with their wallets for the Eos – it was swamped with admirers while the attention vacuum around the Focus CC was often of truly cringeworthy proportions. The odd high performance model aside, Ford seems incapable of buffing up its brand image…

Ford’s dead calm and VW’s perfect storm. By day two, the launch-weary Geneva crowd had lost interest in the Focus CC