There was a time when the biggest existential threat to a convertible was the British weather. Now, in 2025, it’s not drizzle and soggy picnic baskets but SUVs and batteries looming over the drop-top’s survival. Which leaves us with a tantalising question: in a world going electric faster than you can say “charging anxiety,” will the convertible remain a symphony of six cylinders, or morph into a silent wind tunnel on wheels?

BMW, naturally, has been asked this straight up. The man tasked with answering was Bernd Koerber, BMW’s product boss, and he didn’t so much give an answer as an essay. “These days it’s very hard to make this general judgment,” he told us. Translation: don’t expect a neat headline.

Why? Because what matters in Dallas doesn’t necessarily matter in Düsseldorf—or, for that matter, in Dalian. In the U.S. and Europe, the idea of a convertible is still tied to the sound and fury of a big engine—the inline-six purr, the V8 growl, the childish joy of downshifting just to annoy cyclists. In parts of Asia, though, the mood music is different. Silence, serenity, sustainability: the drop-top as electric spa.

So BMW’s solution is, well, not to pick a side at all. “Technology neutral,” Koerber calls it. Hybrids, ICE, BEVs—whichever flavour you fancy, Munich will happily provide. Think of it as the automotive equivalent of an all-you-can-eat buffet: schnitzel on one plate, tofu stir-fry on the next.

This means the convertible of tomorrow could go two ways. On one hand, you’ll still have your visceral combustion cabrio for those who consider an exhaust note to be half the fun. On the other, an electric cabriolet where the only soundtrack is wind in your hair and the smug hum of electrons. BMW doesn’t see why both can’t coexist, and frankly, neither do we.

Of course, there’s the lingering question of timing. Will there be a smooth transition from petrol-burning cabrios to their silent EV counterparts, or will BMW leave us twiddling our thumbs in a convertible gap year? The company isn’t ready to say.

But one thing’s clear: BMW isn’t preparing a funeral for the drop-top. Quite the opposite. The Neue Klasse era could be the dawn of two convertibles—one loud, one quiet, both unapologetically BMW. Which, in a market obsessed with cookie-cutter SUVs, feels like a victory worth celebrating.

Roof down. Future uncertain. But still very much alive.