In the first few years that the European automatic washing machines were on the market, they were very expensive. The machine that made automatic washing affordable was the AEG Turnamat especially in the Netherlands and I think also in Germany. It was an H-axis twintub. Two drums, a washing and rinsing drum on the left and the spinner on the right. Washing and rinsing (5 or 6 rinses, depending on the brand) were done fully automatic. No spinning between rinses, therefor lots of water was used. After that you only had to put the wet laundry in the spinner. The Turnamat and similar machines from other brands were relatively cheap. And soon huge trade in sums were paid for old wringer washers and the not so very popular V-axis twintub. It made an automatic affordable, around 1960 they were not much more expensive than a non-automatic twintub like the Hoovermatic. Although machines like the Hoovermatic were very popular in the UK, they didn't appeal to the customers on the continent. On the other hand, the Turnamat never really caught on in the UK. Perhaps that has something to do with the bigger size of the Turnamat. In the UK a lot of people have the washing machine in the kitchen, a Turnamat wouldn't really fit in a kitchen, but that is only a guess. Here's a commercial for a Turnamat (in Dutch).
