Victim of their own success, and of political and economical reality.
The numbers on paper must outperform those of the previous generation (marketing) but the consumption/emission numbers must be lower than previous generation (politics/economics).
There's only so much an engineer can do to achieve both. And today that seems to be turbo-charging.
The Toyota/Subaru you mention, does not have a previous generation and established clientele, so the marketing rules do not yet apply. So it starts at about +200 HP, where the M3 started its career...
Same with Audi TT when it launched 12 years ago. (225 HP)
|