EcoModder Business!

[tomtom]

Hey fellow modders,

I'm fairly new here, but it struck me: are there any attempts by fellow EcoModders to organize into a commercial venture and turn a hobby into something more? An organized group of passionate people can take on bigger projects, perform better engineering, and develop better products than any individual can. The products could be sold to enthusiasts such as those on EcoModder.com, and thousands of others who desire better fuel economy, but are not committed (or skilled) enough to modify cars on their own. Any thoughts?

[Funny]

I don't think it would be that easy or practical to make a business of it because there is so much snake oil on the market today. Your chances of escaping the quagmire of fuel saving devices to get any kind of market share is infinitely small.

There are online engineering programs for making various pieces of equipment, such as strut mounts, air dams, vortex generators, heads, skirts, valves and the like. I'll see if I can find it and then people can wing some Ideas at everyone else into the collective pool. Have a group buy on some MPG increasing objects, now that would be something. Hell, you could even have the ecomodder logo etched into all the products, that would get the word out.

[TestDrive]

Originally Posted by Funny

There are online engineering programs for making various pieces of equipment, such as strut mounts, air dams, vortex generators, heads, skirts, valves and the like. I'll see if I can find it

Are you referring to http://www.emachineshop.com ?

[SVOboy]

Yeah, not enough demand spread across too many different types of cars for kits to be viable. Mehbe I custom dab shop could do it, but then that's not financially sound, I think.

[hondaguy72]

There would be a decent market for aero kit stuff, depending on vehicle make. Grill block kits would be a possible venture. I've thought about it, but taking action is the tough and costly part.

[Funny]

Originally Posted by TestDrive

Are you referring to http://www.emachineshop.com ?

Yes, indeed I am. This is the website I refered to in my previous post.


I am talking about Generic mods, vortex generators, air dams, headlight plugs and the like. Not sunroof plugs, boattails, and other such radical, car-specific modifications. Just the simple stuff.
If someone wanted to design a new Suzuki G10 head with optimized flows, compression, hemispherical chamber, spark plug placement, etc. I'm just saying a group buy would be cheaper. Singh-groves anyone?

[modmonster]

a hatch-back kammback would be do-able. there are generic cycle carriers why not a generic kammback?

[Bicycle Bob]

For a fits-all kammback, I'd be inclined to try something easy to form, such as Coroplast with aluminum reinforcing across the grain for the bottom, sides and edges, and Plexiglas or hard-coated polycarbonate for the back light. Some wedge-section foam strips and wide vinyl tape might suffice for smoothing most transitions.

If I ever do the aero mods on my Metro, I'll be open to offers for duplicate fiberglass parts.

[metromizer]

sort of rambling on...

I see a definate need...

You'd have to turn that need into some bottom-line profit where people part with their hard earned cash.

In order to make a good business case for parts, it seems to me you'd have to sell your product(s) a scale in which you amortize your engineering efforts throughout the sales of thousands of parts.

The other tough part if you choose to market parts... getting the capital investment to produce lots and lots of parts, market and distribute them. If you start small, your engineering costs are a huge percentage of the end product cost.

Do a real good job of moving lots of units and your reward might be and you get the attention of some larger fish, who steals your idea, and manufactures a knock-off version of your products in China, undercuts you by 75% with inferior products while you close up shop. The attorneys fight it out, but a little fish doesn't stand a chance in the 'my lawyers can beat up your lawyers' game. I just re-read, mygwad does that sound negative! Sorry, it's just that I've been in and around manufacturing my entire life... LOL

IMO, you would need great fitting consumer grade products that will fit specific make, model, and year, are complete, and require minimal skill set to instal. One size fits all parts in the hands of the unskilled result in unhappy customers. That's a tough one to do well unless you already have a lot of experience in this type of R&D.

DIY'ers with the skills to make their own will just steal your idea and build their own in the their garages, so you'd need to go after a wide public market, IMO.

What about the former 'body kit' manufactures? I understand that market is oversaturated and largely going away, but what about a new twist on that? The processes and skill sets have been around for some time. You could engineer body kits that significantly lower a cars CD, instead of altering the look for astetics alone. I'd love to see a body kit offered where function drives form. Maybe this could be 'the next big thing' at next year's SEMA show in Vegas?

Or maybe you where thinking of some sort of engineering co-op? Perhaps offereing consulting services on an hourly basis? Make contacts within the aftermarket automotive industry, make a sales pitch to design some products for them on a partnership basis, let them do what they do best?

The solar companies in California are seeing some real growth near my home, they use a lot of outside consultants.

Engineering is expensive, and like a good security system, the average Joe rarely appreciates security doing a good job, or great engineering. He only notices a failure in either one.

[tomtom]

Seems like there's a lot of quiet need and desire for such a company. The main fear appears that these products could only be sold in low volumes, which would make the venture unprofitable. However, the auto industry is huge! The popular models are sold at 100,000 to 400,000 units / year, in unchanged form for 3-5 years (often more except for cosmetic changes). There are many models with 300,000 to 1.5 million identical units out there! Even if you only attract 1% (or .1%) of owners, that's hundreds to a few thousand units. A company that offers a product that saves the customer money over the course of a couple of years (in addition to the Eco aspect) should be able to sell to 1% of the intended audience.

To reply to the other concerns: Yes, this would mean high-quality products, measurable fuel savings, and reasonable prices at above volumes. It's not easy, but it can be done!

If anyone is interested in discussing this in more detail, please contact me. Happy eModding!