Wide Open Spaces

Surprise! Not all Baby Boomers are self-centered yuppies who want to drive a 2-seat roadster into the sunset with the top down and the wind in their thinning hair.

Apparently many affluent Boomers now define luxury as the ability to share the wind-in-the-hair experience with as many people as possible: friends and family sitting in the back seat — maybe even the dog in the third row.

Whatever the reason, the popularity of bigger and more expensive sunroofs is soaring. They're found on everything from BMW AG's Mini Cooper to the Cadillac SRX cross/utility vehicle. Supplier sources say they soon will be a hot option on truck-based SUVs and pickup trucks, as well as minivans. And in many cases one big sunroof won't be enough. Expect to see two and three sunroofs per vehicle as auto makers look to the roof as a means of offering consumers more features to separate their vehicles from the rest of the pack.

Ward's first reported this trend two years ago when Mercedes-Benz was shocked to learn that buyers of its C-Class sports coupe (which at the time had a base price under $26,000) were ordering its “panorama” sliding sunroof at twice the expected rate: 60% instead of 30%. At retail, the roof was available for $2,700 as part of a package that included leather interior and a Bose sound system.

Now such roofs are popping up all over on new vehicles. BMW offers one on its X3 CUV, which is just coming to market, and Nissan offers big, long skylights on its Quest minivan and Maxima sedan.

Cadillac is the latest auto maker to be struggling to meet demand for its giant $1,800 “UltraView” sunroof, which exposes a 5.6 ft.-long (1.7-m) opening to the sky over the first- and second-row seats.

“We scheduled the UltraView roof at 40%, and demand is more like 80%,” says Cadillac General Manager Mark LaNeve.

The UltraView is prominently featured in SRX television and print advertising and was planned to be a major feature of the vehicle during its conception, says Jay Spenchian, Cadillac global marketing director.

“When we first started talking about (the SRX), people thought it (the huge sunroof) would be a unique way of giving this vehicle more of a ‘wow.’”

And that, Spenchian says, is exactly what's happening. “One thing we've heard from dealers is everybody comes in looking for that roof,” he says. “It's one thing to see it on TV, but another to sit in the second row with (potential buyers) and hear them say ‘wow.’”

Spenchian doesn't have detailed psychographic data on the appeal of the big sunroof, but he says the SRX is intended to be practical and fun-to-drive, and having a big, open roof contributes to that. “It's almost the feeling of driving a roadster (in front). In the second row, you look forward and get this feeling of openness and exhilaration.”

Cadillac marketers expected buyers of the top-of-the line V-8 version of the SRX to order the roof, but what surprised them is the number of buyers of the less-expensive V-6 model that wanted the option, Spenchian says.

The appeal of a jumbo-size sunroof for the Mini Cooper (plus a smaller flip-up glass roof over the rear seats) isn't hard to understand: It makes the diminutive car (the smallest in the U.S.) seem bigger and roomier inside.

Suppliers love the big sunroofs as much as consumers do. Webasto Roof Systems Inc., which designed and built the modular sunroof system for the SRX — and the Mercedes C230 — now is in the enviable position of having yet another customer begging for more product.

Plus, in an era when standard-size sunroofs have become so common they are considered commodities, these bigger, more sophisticated modules offer suppliers the opportunity to develop unique, value-added products — which translates into higher profit margins.

That's what interests Paul Wilbur, president and CEO of ASC Inc. Formerly known as American Sunroof Corp., Wilbur is moving the company's focus away from standard sunroofs to designing, engineering and helping build specialty vehicles, such as the Chevrolet SSR.

“Sunroofs are a commodity,” he says, adding the company now builds standard sunroofs in only one plant, a joint venture in Columbus, OH. The customer is Honda of America Mfg. Inc.

However, he's still very interested in building customized vehicles featuring special roof treatments. “The roof is on fire,” he says enthusiastically and points to the GMC Envoy XUV — an SUV with a retractable roof over the rear cargo area — as an example of where the industry is headed, and where he wants ASC to be.

Wilbur says ASC currently is developing several projects with auto makers involving elaborate roof treatments on trucks — and he's not just cutting the roofs off SUVs to make convertibles, he assures.

However, even though sunshine and wind-in-the-hair have the same appeal in a truck-based SUV or pickup that they have in a CUV or roadster, Wilbur says higher-center-of-gravity vehicles create special problems. For one, he says, the big glass-intensive designs featured in cars such as the Mercedes C230 are too heavy and could create stability problems if used in tall vehicles.

Nissan minimized the cost and weight issue of the Skyview roof on its Quest minivan by having only fixed-glass panels in the roof, Wilbur says.

Instead, he says new roof systems that retract on light trucks actually might feature cloth designs (like convertible tops) that are lighter and less expensive.

All in all, it appears future drivers and passengers will have to remember to pack their sunscreen.
— with Tom Murphy and Brian Corbett