What Cabriolet Means, And Why They're Not Called Convertibles

Human language can be a tricky thing. Not only do we have specific rules about how sentences are structured, but we also have a multitude of words that sound alike or are spelled identically with completely different meanings. Take, for instance, lead (to go in front of) and lead (a metal), or bass (a low, deep sound) and bass (a type of fish). That said, you also have totally different words that have the same meaning.

Strictly speaking, there's no difference between a cabriolet and a convertible – the two words can be interchanged to describe a car with a removable roof. Toss in the fact that other terms are also used for an open-roofed vehicle, like roadster, phaeton, and spyder or spider — such as Lamborghini's Huracan Performante Spyder or Ferrari's Roma Spider. In all, it can be very confusing. The word cabriolet first came into use in France during the 18th century and was used to describe a two-wheeled carriage with a driver pulled by a single horse. It lacked doors but did have a versatile hood that could be pulled up to protect the passenger. Ironically, the actual French word for convertible (or cabriolet) is décapotable.

At the turn of the 19th century, when motor-powered vehicles were coming into their own, they had no roof, windshield, or windows. When the first Model T Ford rolled out in 1908, it had a manual pull-up top and was thus technically a convertible in the sense that it could convert from a vehicle without a roof to one with one.

In 1910, Cadillac offered the Model Thirty, the first fully enclosed automobile. People were excited about this concept considering how dirty driving conditions were back then. In 1922, the Hudson Motor Car Company released an affordable two-door sedan called the Essex, and by the late 1920s, fully enclosed cars had become the industry standard. However, that's not to say convertibles became extinct, even though by the mid-1930s, they accounted for less than 1% of total automobile sales. According to Car and Driver, in 1935 the French automaker Peugeot, one of the oldest car brands in the world, released the first known car with a hardtop folding roof called the 402 Eclipse Décapotable. Since then, cabriolets, or convertibles, have only been getting even more reliable. 

To alleviate any potential confusion at this point, it's not that cabriolets aren't called convertibles. It has more to do with global location. While American automakers tend to stick with the word convertible, most European manufacturers lean towards cabriolet. Though, that's not always the case. For example, BMW uses the word convertible while Audi uses cabriolet, and Jaguar and Mercedes have been known to use both. 

However, Volkswagen has not only used the words convertible and cabriolet, but it even released a model called the Carbrio. To further expand on the global term preference, Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet was actually called the Rabbit Convertible in North America from the years 1980-1984. Whatever term you're using, though, having a car's roof pulled back on a sunny day promises plenty of driving fun.