|
I'd say there's a market, but not alot of profit potential. Most bodykits are made to look cool - the cooler it looks, the more you can charge, even if it uses about the same amount of fiberglass. Everyone wanted to look like a Ferrari or Lamborghini until they both started cracking down on bodies quite awhile ago under trade dress protection.
However since one is going for simple shapes it's quite possible that a lower cost manufacturing method might be done than is necessary for something with alot of angles, vents, and such. It's even possible that bodykits could be made which would have wider application, where maybe a few custom or small parts help it fit a range of vehicles with an approximate shape better to smooth out certain parts.
Most people poor enough to not be happy with 55mpg and insisting on 80mpg dont' have thousands to spend on a body kit. Especially with the marginal improvements mattering less when one already drives an economical car. (the improvement on a van from 10mpg to 20mpg saves more gas, say 20 cents per mile at $4/gal, than the improvement of an economy car from 40mpg to 60mpg, saving 3 cents per mile at $4/gal - yet one concerned about mileage will already be driving the latter MOST of the time, if they are capable of doing so, so except for specialized people like me who need to haul cargo efficiently interest will be less for larger vehicles)
I for one would love to see aero stuff on the market - but it has to be affordable far moreso than normal 'bodykits'. I'd pay a few hundred extra for a highly aero pickup topper for instance - but something costing $5000 buys alot of gas. :P
|