Saturday, September 26, 2015

Unrealistic Expectations - Why owner of some cars feel like the red-headed step child

 I was curious about something while looking at the Scion iM website. There is a feature that allows you to compare it to other cars they consider direct market competition. One of those cars is Mk7 Golf 1.8T aka Poor Man's GTI.

 I was curious what sort of power you could get out of one of these things and I came across a post on the Vortex forums one of the most popular VAG (Volkswagen AG). This particular owner was whining that more tuning options weren't available. Apparently he either doesn't want the APR Stage 1 flash (which requires removal of your engine control unit) or is waiting for something that may never come.

 Having been on that side of the automotive community before, he has no idea what it's like to have virtually no choices when it comes to increasing engine performance.

 I've seen this play out on the internet since car forums became a popular thing to do with your time. I've been hearing that some forums are seeing less traffic, but that's due to changing demographics, especially when your talking about compact cars.

 Yes I am going to go there. I've seen it posted more than once, that some guy has to trade in his high performance sedan or hatchback for a more "sensible" large SUV or Cute SUV because of a baby on the way or adding to the family.

 This is their wives talking actually, the relationship dynamics in Western/Anglo culture.... It's totally off-topic, I will not go there, I will talk about subjects like this on my other blog that I haven't officially launched yet.

 Anyway, guys whine about the choices they make (usually economic) then get mad when the performance aftermarket (about 2-4% of the entire automotive marketplace) doesn't cater to their every whim.

 Recently I emailed BC Racing, makers of coil-over suspensions for cars to ask them if the product they offer for the Focus ST was rebound AND compression adjustable. I wasn't mad they didn't offer a product for a car I don't even own (yet), I asked what would it take to make a product like this possible?

 The person I emailed said about 20 pre-orders (IE pre-paid) would get the ball rolling.

 One thing I will cover on this blog when I get back into the high performance world maybe as soon as after the first of the year is how to get companies to make products for you, no matter what is it.
 
 If they believe there's no demand they won't make it. So you have to manufacturer some (demand).
 
 Since BC's manufacturing is in China, it's far less expensive to make this product for twenty people and maybe sell a few more for profit. He did mention external reservoir which is similar to a type of coil-over you see in racing applications. This isn't needed, so come clarification needs to happen before moving forward. 

 So let's say the pre-order cost is $700 per set or $14,000 in developmental cost ($700 x 20). For your $700 you will get the product at a discount for help covering those cost. People that come after you will pay closer to retail pricing which could be double.

 You just created a market where there wasn't one. This isn't the first time I have done this, again I will explain this more in-depth when the time comes.

 PS -

 The past few months I've been trying to buy a 2015 Focus ST. So far it hasn't gone as expected as my credit report still has some issues on it. I will break down what it took when I  likely will pick this car maybe as soon as February 2016.

  
 

 

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