Options - Why Some Cars Have More Stuff Than Others

Have you ever wondered why some cars come with certain features, while others don’t, even if they were similarly sized and priced?

To the uninitiated, it’s only a matter of one brand differentiating its product from its competitors. So, if brand X has this cool new feature that brand Y does not, it must be that brand X is trying to show off.

We gather today to discuss how cars come to be bestowed with their various features, or in car-speak, options, that we consumers spend hundreds of hours comparing before buying and lambasting dealers on forums for not including this and that or “bringing in” useless things.

But before that, for the benefit of those who aren’t so familiar with cars, let’s explore some background about options.

The Audi A6 4-wheel steering delivers even more dynamism to the car's drive

In many parts of the world where car markets are generally much larger than it is here on the red dot, car makers will often offer their products with some degree of customisability to suit the individual customer’s needs.

What happens when a regular Joe walks into a showroom in say, Germany, is that he is presented a price list which might show the price of each variant of a car that’s available, together with a corresponding list of features he could have as optional extras – hence the term “options”.

For instance, the prospective buyer of a swanky new 7 series could be assailed with a list of things he could choose from to further fluff up his already rather cloud-like ride – he could have, if he wished to feel like a starship pilot, Laserlight, which is BMW’s fanciful name for an equally futuristic laser headlamp system.

The 8 Series also sports the same laser system as the 7

That ought to put that Corolla with its LED headlamps to shame; if only because "LEDs are for the peasantry".

So you get the idea of how this works overseas. But the lion city’s tax structure and COE make it quite difficult to do this, so dealers here often pre-specify a car with the factory and sell them en masse at a uniform price.

How then do they come to decide what options to specify on each car?

In short, there is no one size fits all method. This varies from dealer to dealer, brand to brand, and indeed car to car. Remember when we explained the cost of a car? This is often a key aspect to the way cars are optioned.

But how basic is really basic you might ask? The SEAT Toledo may be basic by today's standards, but it is quite decently equipped

The folks’ wagon cannot cost more than $20,000, because some men in white have decreed that any car with an OMV above said amount shall only be eligible for 60% financing of its retail price, which means most folks will struggle to cough up 40% in down payment. Any amount above $20,000 will also incur at least 140% in ARF, which corresponds to a sizeable increase in price.

What about cars that are priced for the towkay then? Surely they have the finances if they are going to drive a luxo-barge and aren’t too bothered by taxes.

Well yes. Then why doesn’t the 730Li come with the aforementioned Laserlight here?

Unless someone from BMW decides to throw his or her career away and tell us, we shall never truly know. But an educated guess would be, that’s the way BMW differentiates its entry model from the flagship M760Li. Afterall, buying a $400,000 car is not the same as buying a $700,000 one, and you’d still like a bit more pizazz in addition to merely a V12 engine, wouldn’t you?

Car makers, like all product producers, need to constantly innovate to keep with the times. The novelty that new technology brings together with the actual benefits the end user gets from using new technology are what car makers must present to the people in exchange for their hard-earned cash every few years or so.

But you have to admit that the Audi Q8 DRLs are rather pretty

Technology is thus integrated constantly into each new car to offer consumers the latest and greatest and to stay ahead of the competition. This is why when Audi turned the functional Daytime Running Light into something of an aesthetic work some years back, everybody else in the world sat up and started to roll out their own versions, and we’ve come to a point where even the entry level Kia also sports these LED design elements.

You can see the magic penstrokes of Peter Schreyer in the littlest details of the Kia Stonic

So how are cars optioned? Well, it’s a combination of cost, innovation, and value that each manufacturer and their authorised retail partner tries to present to the public.

These, and of course what the brand next door is doing, so as not to give you, the buyer, another reason to bargain down their prices for lacking something that the next door is offering.

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