Vertigo1 said:
And who determines where the cut-off is or what qualifies as a "hero product"?
S3 owners may sneer at S-Line owners and begrudge them having a lot of the same or similar trim but then RS owners could sneer at S owners and R8 owners could sneer at RS owners. Saying the flatbottomed wheel should never be allowed on an S-Line is like an RS4 owner complaining it shouldn't be allowed on an S3, it's all relative
I hear what you're saying, and there's nothing wrong with an s-line, I think most S owners wouldn't sneer or begrudge an s-line car at all, but if you're paying the premium for an S car, it would be nice to have a little something to distinguish it from the rest of the range.
I don't think you'd have R8 owner sneering at an RS owner or an RS owner sneering at an S owner, purely becaue they all have big difference to the rest of the range. Let's leave the R8 out of it, as the difference there is obvious, but an RS versus an S, well RS models tend to have a massively beefed up bodykit and arches and a beast of an engine.
The s-line A4 and S4 visually have very little difference, and I think the same can be said of the S3 and an s-line A3.
I guess it would be nice to keep something exclusive for the range toppers that's all!
In terms of who decides, well, it'll be toss between Marketing - hopefully driving for some product differentiation within the range and keeping high spedning customer happy with some exclusivity, or Finance, spotting the market for £270 a pop F/B sterring wheels on 10-15% of s-lines a year or whatever their business case would predict!!! Let's face it, on 50,000 cars that's £13.5 million on one option!!!!!
It is all relative, but I think a lot of people get a little frustrated that the car they spend a lot of money on, can be made to look identical for £10k less!
Just a personal view...