Mark my words

I’m starting to struggle to recall each generation in the long runs of successful models like the Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Golf and BMW 5 Series. So I very much appreciated the side panel in your feature on the new BMW M5 that traced the incarnations back more than three decades (News, 23 August).

It’s good that you often show a picture of the original, Mk 1 version as a reference when a new model is introduced – as you did recently with the Seat Ibiza in the road test – but a panel tracing every big evolutionary step in the story from the original onwards helps the appreciation of what has been achieved over time. It also keeps these expanding histories mentally organised. Rodger Bending Ringwood