In Model-based design workflows, variant design is a method for managing design alternatives in one artifact. Variant design in Simulink^® is expressed as conditional manifestation of components within a single model. A meaningful combination of these variants is defined and managed as a variant configuration. The variant configuration, or variant design, enables organizations to design product lines such as automobiles, aircraft, or electronics that satisfy diverse market needs, customer preferences, and geographic requirements, on a common platform. For information on basics of variants, see What Are Variants and When to Use Them.

For example, consider a product line of passenger cars where each variant differ in properties such as fuel consumption, motor type, or emission standard. Instead of designing multiple models to represent all possible variants, you can model all the variations in a product line using a single variant model. Simulink variant capabilities allow you to create flexible models with built-in variabilities to manage, configure, and reuse your designs more efficiently.

Using variant systems and Variant Manager for Simulink you can:

For information on variant capabilities at various stages of the development process, see V-Model for System Development with Simulink Variants.