Prior to production, the Eos was shown as the Concept Cconcept car at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show — designed by a team headed by Peter Schreyer, Head of Volkswagen Design in Wolfsburg. Other sources attribute the design of the Eos specifically to Slovenian Robert Lešnik. The production Eos, produced at the AutoEuropa plant in Portugal, was presented in September 2005, at the Frankfurt Motor Show, with the North American introduction at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January 2006. Unlike the Cabrio, which was a convertible version of the Golf hatchback, the Eos was a standalone model with all new body panels, although it shared the platform and components from the Volkswagen Golf. The wheelbase matches the Golf Mk5 and Jetta.
Roof design
The Eos incorporates into its five piece folding roof an integrated and independently sliding glass sunroof — making the Eos the only retractable hardtop of this kind. The roof folds automatically into the trunk in twenty five seconds, thereby reducing trunk space from The roof was designed and is built by OASys, a subsidiary of Webasto Germany. The design of the roof system is complex with its own hydraulic control system and numerous rubber seals. Periodic maintenance must be done to keep the seals conditioned so that they function properly. Early models had a different seal design that was prone to leaking, but these were updated in the 2009/2010 timeframe. Proper body alignment is critical for proper top function.
Facelift
A facelifted Volkswagen Eos appeared in October 2010, and went on sale as a model of 2012 outside Europe. This facelift includes a revised front and rear fascias, headlights and tail lights, side mirrors, as well as new wheel designs.
Eos ''White Night''
The White Night edition was a special edition with custom wheels, custom black interior and a black and white colour scheme package. It includes Candy White coloured body, Deep Black Pearlescent coloured roof, cherry redLED tail lights, 18 inch Budapest wheels. Other features include black mirror covers, radiator grille and trim strips, black Nappa leather seats, door and side trim and black steering wheel with light coloured seams, trim strips and radio trim in candy white, sill panel strips with white night letters. Other features include climatronic climate control system, sports chassis lowered and heated front seats. This option is available with all non V6 models.
Sales of the Eos steadily declined, as hardtop convertibles fell out of favour with buyers. In addition, the Eos was based on the Mark 5 platform, and by 2014, it had become the last model produced on it. With sales declining, Volkswagen elected to not migrate the model to a more current platform, as a redesign would have proven costly. During 2014, Volkswagen announced that the model would be discontinued with a close of the model year of 2015, and Volkswagen produced a Final Edition trim to mark the occasion. This 2015 only version slotted into a mid trim range in the United States, and replaced the Sport trim previously sold there. The Final Edition was basically a Sport trim with special two tone beige/black leather upholstery and a back up camera with park distance control added. The Final Edition was available in three basic colours: black, brown and white.
2016 United States wrap up
In August 2015, Volkswagen surprised the North American market, by saying that there would be a very limited run of Eos cars of 2016 in the basic Komfort trim only. In October 2015, at least one dealer was quoted as saying only 1,300 cars were made available for the United States in four colours: black, brown, red and white. Since 2014, the Komfort trim had developed to include a fairly rich complement of standard features to include in dash navigation. These cars were far from being considered 'basic' and in fact were quite well equipped. The final cars of 2016 carried a MSRP a good bit below what exactly the same trim line had commanded a year or two earlier, making them a relative bargain as the model finally closed out. By May 2016, the cars were all but gone from dealers.
