One brand, one model, one engine
11/20/2024
Schoolboys in the fifties had it so easy. Back then, it was still easy to memorize the engine power and top speed of every known car - not just the dream sports cars, but also the everyday sights on the road. An Opel Olympia Rekord had 45 hp, a Taunus 17 M went almost 130, and a VW was not a VW, but the VW - because there was no other.
But barely ten years later, simplicity was already a thing of the past, only to culminate another ten years later in a confusing jumble of drive and equipment options. Was the 1600 in the Opel Ascona an S or an N engine? Ah, an N. But was it just as powerful as the 1.2 S or even weaker? Or did that depend on whether it had the sporty SR equipment? Was it even available in the two-door sedan? Uh...
It didn't look any better with other manufacturers. Whereby Ford certainly had the densest thicket of letter combinations: L, GL, GXL, XLR, XL, GT, Ghia, optionally combinable with S, occasionally also with R. Plus a two-liter four-cylinder either in V or in-line design. And because it's so nice, the same displacement is also available with two more cylinders - but only as a V, not inline. You don't have to overdo it.
In the meantime, the clear-cutting of the equipment jungle has begun again. VW now only offers the ID.3 with a handful of ready-made combination packages. Individual configuration of special equipment is no longer possible. This not only makes things easier for production, but also for customers - and of course for the schoolboys. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go before the one-model policy is introduced.
