 One reason for the CIH engine architecture may have been cosmetic.Other automakers such as BMW with their 1500 (launched in 1962) and Volkswagen with their NSU designed K70 (which finally entered the showrooms in 1970), squeezed vital centimeters off the height of the engine unit by canting it over at an eccentric angle in the engine bay.Opel's CIH engine configuration similarly enabled a succession of Opels to feature the low bonnet/hood lines that style-conscious product development departments favored in the 1960s.