Seat removes optional extras from it's entire range

[rockandrollmark]

The Wookie said:

Hooray, even more standardisation and conformity to make European cars even less diverse.

What... you mean you *don’t* want a monochrome German car with a four cyl engine and massive wheels? What will the neighbours think!

[aeropilot]

Butter Face said:

carinatauk said:

Something that has occurred to me is, what if you want something non standard but useful like a towbar?

Dealer fitted accessory.

As long as the manufacturer has allowed things like that to be a dealer fit accessory without needing to buy an industrial tub of Vaseline beforehand for the reaming that'll you get............

That's why I specced the factory fit towbar option on my X5, as I had enquired about dealer retro-fit beforehand and was quoted a price 3 x times that of the already stupidly expensive factory fit option...........

[David87]

This is great news. Makes it so much easier to buy a used one!

[edc]

Seat have been doing this for the Arona since the turn of the year on this isn't even new news as such. The fleet and lease sales people confirm its for WLTP. If you want more spec you just choose a different trim spec. All the colours are available at no cost.

[TooMany2cvs]

Butter Face said:

carinatauk said:

Something that has occurred to me is, what if you want something non standard but useful like a towbar?

Dealer fitted accessory.

Back in the 90s, leather seats were dealer-fit on Rover 400s.

[jmcc500]

Interesting. It doesn’t make sense for WLTP - they’ll still have to test heaviest and lightest variants, there’s no need to test every possible combination and by having different trim levels (and therefore weights) they don’t actually save themselves anything.

Most likely a manufacturing / distribution benefit as others have said.

What is surprising is that some of the options are merely switches / code based so removing those seems backwards (why not charge someone money to enable some feature, which removing may lead to someone choosing a lesser /cheaper trim level?).

Edit to add: unless trim levels also align with engine choice, different specs lead to test for heavy and light variants for a given engine in that model. I think people are pushing through changes and blaming WLTP when perhaps the truth is it generates cost savings elsewhere in the process.

Edited by jmcc500 on Monday 20th August 13:35

[r250]

NickCQ said:

Imagine this simplifies manufacturing significantly if you churn out three models in various colours rather than umpteen different combos.

Surely with todays car manufacturing this makes no difference?
It really doesn't matter that ever single car on the production line is a different spec, just look at the Mini plant.

[Funk]

David87 said:

This is great news. Makes it so much easier to buy a used one!

I've often thought that this plethora of huge customisation and variety will make it an absolute nightmare finding out what options a used car has fitted once it's a decade old...

[tejr]

This was pretty much the norm until BMW/Mercedes/Audi made the options list mainstream. But they basically used it to make OTR 'from' prices artificially low.

Now that we, as a nation, essentially pay for cars on a monthly subscription, OTR prices are irrelevant (when was the last time you saw one advertised on TV?) so its easier to make cars more expensive as long as you keep the monthly's rolling in and affordable.

[jmcc500]

r250 said:

NickCQ said:

Imagine this simplifies manufacturing significantly if you churn out three models in various colours rather than umpteen different combos.

Surely with todays car manufacturing this makes no difference?
It really doesn't matter that ever single car on the production line is a different spec, just look at the Mini plant.

Suspect the winner is distribution and being able to provide all customers with cars from stock in short timeframes. I was amazed when thinking about buying a motorbike that the delivery time was less than a week because that is how they operate.

[TooMany2cvs]

tejr said:

Now that we, as a nation, essentially pay for cars on a monthly subscription, OTR prices are irrelevant

P11D...

(and the £40k VED line, but that won't trouble Seat)

[GarageQueen]

I'm still stunned the likes of BMW / Mercedes etc offer such a huge range of options, the logistics and costs must be enormous , for which we are all paying for even if we buy the base spec.

[vsonix]

GarageQueen said:

I'm still stunned the likes of BMW / Mercedes etc offer such a huge range of options, the logistics and costs must be enormous , for which we are all paying for even if we buy the base spec.

It makes little sense to me either. I know traditionally BMW have been seen as the manufacturer stingiest with any kind of extras, in fact if I recall correctly, back in the early 1990s even a basic radio cassette was considered an 'extra'. Also makes buying them used a bit of a minefield as you're never sure, even based on if you buy an ES, SE or Sport, if the car you're looking at will have the things you associate with that trim level. And of course by and large a big list of optional extras costs the new buyer heavily but a couple of owners down the line doesn't seem to affect the price of the car all that much.

I can see why a huge options list is appealing maybe on the super-premium models and the existence of the 'BMW Individual' scheme is nice if you want to pick some kind of crazy exterior/interior combo but having to specially request things like nets on the backs of seats or extra cubbyholes is just churlish and I imagine must actually make the cars more expensive to produce for relatively little advantage to purchasers.

[TooMany2cvs]

vsonix said:

I know traditionally BMW have been seen as the manufacturer stingiest with any kind of extras, in fact if I recall correctly, back in the early 1990s even a basic radio cassette was considered an 'extra'.

Not only BMW. I had a 1982 CX with the original head unit blanking plate lobbed in the glovebox. When my mother bought a Saab 900 in 1986, the head unit was dealer-fit. When I looked at getting a C-Class in 1996, the speakers/aerial/audio wiring was optional.

[aeropilot]

vsonix said:

I know traditionally BMW have been seen as the manufacturer stingiest with any kind of extras

While that may have been the case back then, I wouldn't say it is nowadays, although their base audio systems are still pants on even the £60k+ cars.

[sjg]

Struggling to find the article (it was a few years ago) but a surprising amount of BMW options get ordered after the purchase but before production has begun. I guess with the long wait times and knowing you can call the dealer and add it later means people then peruse the brochures properly afterwards and decide that actually yes, they do want the special lined storage compartment or heated steering wheel or whatever.

In the US where the vast majority buy something in stock and drive it away same day, BMW have one of the highest rates of custom factory orders.

[aeropilot]

sjg said:

In the US where the vast majority buy something in stock and drive it away same day, BMW have one of the highest rates of custom factory orders.

A lot of that is down to European Delivery, where US buyers can take delivery of their new BMW from BMW World in Munich at the factory, drive it around for a few weeks on a road trip, and then BMW put it on a boat and send it to USA.

[Shiv_P]

aeropilot said:

vsonix said:

I know traditionally BMW have been seen as the manufacturer stingiest with any kind of extras

While that may have been the case back then, I wouldn't say it is nowadays, although their base audio systems are still pants on even the £60k+ cars.

Probably still is true. You still don't get cruise control on a 1 series and lumbar support on a 3 series

[jonwm]

I read in a fleet news article the idea is purely down to WLTP management going forward.

[TooMany2cvs]

jonwm said:

I read in a fleet news article the idea is purely down to WLTP management going forward.

Yeh, and remember how the manufacturers used to claim that omitting the spare wheel was for weight/CO2, rather than penny-pinching...