What's your Favorite "For the Numbers" Car?

"GhostZ" (GhostZ)
12/13/2014 at 11:28 • Filed to: None

Let's be honest: Carmakers are out to make money. As much as we would love for every company to release sporty brown wagons, in order for them to give us what we want, sometimes they have to release a vehicle solely to keep profits up, solely to improve fleet MPG, or solely for numerical bragging rights.

So what your favorite car released purely for numbers?

Mine would have to be the mid-2000s Mini Cooper. Not because it allowed Mini to build a better car, but because it allowed BMW to. For years rumors of a FWD BMW resulting from the merger were hovering, but as long as Minis sold, not only did the marque stay successful, but BMW outloaded any FWD models they would have sold to Mini, and kept all the RWD stuff for themselves. That's the way I see it, anyway, with the Mini Cooper being a FWD cash cow for the predominately upscale BMW.

DISCUSSION (7)

dogisbadob > GhostZ
12/13/2014 at 11:32

Isn't BMW going to release a FWD car under their own name now?

Anyway, I like the Aston Cygnet. Easily the best Aston ever made since it's Toyota. Just too bad they never sold it over here. Hopefully most of the Cygnet shit is available in the Scion accessory catalog.

E. Julius > GhostZ
12/13/2014 at 11:40

The new Ford F–150. I guess truck people might not consider it a "for the numbers car", but it's undeniable that any manufacturer in this segment has to be very careful given the huge portion of profits it provides. The fact that Ford was bold enough to switch to the aluminum design on such a high volume model will undoubtedly have benefits everywhere else. Lightweighting is huge right now, and will continue to provide benefits long after the internal combustion engine has left the scene, so it will only be a matter of time before technologies like this are applied to more and more vehicles once they have been proven on such a large scale.