Volkswagen Eos won't be replaced, Golf Cabriolet possible?

This week's Los Angeles Auto Show plays host to the coming out party for the 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible, which once again gives the German automaker a pair of four-seat convertibles clustered within striking distance of each other's price ranges. That won't be the case for long, however, as the recently refreshed Eos folding hardtop convertible won't get a successor.

The handwriting has been on the wall for the slow-selling model, which is priced above the new Beetle droptop, starting at $34,350 despite offering a similar powertrain to the Beetle Turbo, which rings up at $27,795 (base 2.5-liter Beetle Convertibles start at $24,495). Through October, Volkswagen has managed to sell just 5,529 Eos units, down 17.8 percent over 2011. This, despite a modest facelift and equipment updates for the 2012 model year. At the same time that the Eos was getting freshened, VW introduced the similarly sized and similar looking Golf Cabriolet for Europe, which despite folding hardtop construction, seemingly obviated the Eos' business case. The Cabriolet subsequently spawned GTI and R variants, giving the model further momentum and appeal.

Klaus Bischoff, Volkswagen's head of global design, did not tell Autoblog when the Eos will be phased out – VW has already released a 2013 model – but he did confirm that a replacement is not in the cards. However, Bischoff did express clear support for the idea of bringing the Golf Cabriolet to North America, as well as the GTI Convertible.