options

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In AD9-0516 Ron Horowitz does a typically exemplary job of pinning down the
"options" business, but (probably in the interest of relative brevity) left
out one level of discretion in the factory-to-end-user sequence. He discussed
factory, factory-authorized dealer, and customer; I would suggest it should be
factory, factory-authorized distributor, distributor-authorized dealer, and
customer. Alfa Romeo SpA (the company in Milan) offered many options which
Alfa Romeo Inc. (the distributor in New Jersey and California) did not chose
to offer the USA dealers, and Alfa Romeo Inc. offered the dealers some things
which the company in Milan had nothing to do with. Much the same thing
happened in Great Britain, Australia, Switzerland, and undoubtedly many other
countries. E.g. the 2000 Berlinas and GT Veloces were sold here with vinyl
upholstery only, in three colors only; the factory sold the Berlinas with
upholstery in four colors of vinyl and in four colors of cloth, and the coupes
in five colors, presumably all vinyl, although the 1750 GT Veloce was offered
(by the factory, not by ARI) upholstered in a choice of three vinyls, two
leathers, and two cloths. Similarly the range of paint color options offered
by the factory was normally far wider than the range offered to US dealers by
ARI.

Conversely, ARI (and other national or regional distributors) offered the
dealers choices which the factory did not offer, and these were understood as
'options' and easily misunderstood or misrepresented as 'factory options'; ARI
would buy cars, usually basic entry-level cars, strip-off some parts (the
standard steel wheels, for example) and trick the cars out with goodies bought
either here or from aftermarket suppliers in Europe, (the popular Ronal A-I
wheels, for example) and sell the cars as 'Special Editions'- Balocco, Lauda,
Andretti, Velocissima, Maratona, etcetera. Some names were used by different
distributors for very different cars; a "Grand Prix" sold in Australia had no
similarities (other than the underlying basic car) to a "Grand Prix" sold in
the USA or a "Grand Prix" sold in Switzerland. There is no harm in liking the
results- but there should also be no harm in trying to understand, and
allocate responsibility for, the technical and aesthetic sources and
consequences of design, manufacturing, and marketing decisions, even if it may
be considered pedantic, nit-picking, anal, or whatever. Personally, I like
giving credit where credit is due, and absolving blame where it is
undeserved.

Enjoy yours,

John H.
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