When was the last time you heard power-to-weight mentioned in a car advert? Probably a very long time ago now. But this old AX GT commercial proudly states that the little Citroen has 120bhp (122hp) per ton, a figure that would still be worth promoting today for a small car when you consider the latest Mini Cooper has 127hp per ton.
And though the advert is old (the comment about unleaded petrol proves that), the meaning behind it remains relevant. Cars built small and light can comfortably compete with physically bigger, lardier, more powerful cars. They go down as 'giant-killers' in the motoring journalist's little red book of car categories.
Obviously we're not suggesting cars should be built like the AX again; they must pass proper crash tests now so there's no point on harking about that. But the latest C1 has a kerbweight of 840kg thanks to modern construction techniques. A 1.2-litre, 110hp three-cylinder turbo was introduced with the C4 Cactus recently. Using those figures you get 130hp per ton. If 'GT' doesn't suit, how about VTS? Come on Citroen, make it happen...