Ecomodding company help/Ideas/comments needed!

[Vekke]

Yes all cars get taxed according to co2, but when you buy a new car the tax amount is also affected by co2 values. In powerful sportscar the taxes can be over half of the cars sale price. This change become reality this year so in the end of 2009 many people bougth powerful sports cars.

Booklet idea is very good.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by SvdM

Econotopia?

Taken up, as is ecotopia.
On the .com TLD, just about everything with eco in the domain name is already taken or parked in hopes of selling it off for big $$$.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Vekke

Firm will mostly design the parts to be used.

First show car will be VW Lupo 3L Target is to get it going 100MPG at steady state driving, so without P&G...

That's a difficult car to showcase anything with, as it already has many ecomods done to it by VW, and is already highly efficient.
There aren't that many of them around either : 69 "3L" are for sale in Europe according to autoscout24, out of 2056 Lupo's on their site.

It's also quite an old car - the youngest are already 5 years old, so they're already beyond half their useful life, so they only have half the time left to repay any investment in ecomods.

There are a lot of different cars out there, so you can't mod them all.
Picking the right cars to start the modding business with will be crucial.

IMO, the car you showcase should

• be popular, so you have a lot of potential customers - but not an icon like a Mini as people may be reluctant to mod it ;
• be popular in countries with higher environmental awareness, like Scandinavia - despite the green hype, a lot of people can't be bothered ;
• not be too expensive, so it's bought by people who may actually want to save some money on gas ;
• have room for some easy improvements ;
• be rather recent but not brand new ;
• not be a car that is mostly sold to leasing companies - unless you can get them or their clients interested of course ;

I dont know if you know, but I am a automotive engineer, currently working at valmet automotive R&D department.

That's a good start !

Average car age finland is 10 years so people are driving the same car long time, maybe average 200000km so basicly what if you are able to keep the kit part price under 300€ you would save 1700€.

300 euro's won't buy me a lot of car parts - a spoiler or some el-cheapo wheels .
Are you sure you can design, manufacture and sell an entire modding kit for that price ?

plus every yearly payed car taxes about 400-700€ per year based on your car "EPA" figures.

Unfortunately, those taxes don't take any ecomodding efforts into account.


IMHO, the entire EU should tax cars only by the amount of fuel they effectively use (i.e. tax at the pump), it's the only way that takes both engine size and the way it's driven into account.
But that's a different story .

[SvdM]

Originally Posted by Vekke

...This change become reality this year so in the end of 2009 many people bougth powerful sports cars.

Same thing will happen soon in RSA, but luckily here I, when an old car is roadworthy, you can drive it without having to get it re-tested every year. When I lived in Ireland for a while, I saw the people had to get their older cars checked out every year (MoT?).

Originally Posted by euromodder

That's a difficult car to showcase anything with, as it already has many ecomods done to it by VW, and is already highly efficient...Are you sure you can design, manufacture and sell an entire modding kit for that price ?

I was thinking the same thing.

Originally Posted by euromodder

IMHO, the entire EU should tax cars only by the amount of fuel they effectively use (i.e. tax at the pump), it's the only way that takes both engine size and the way it's driven into account.

That makes sense. How can you tax a car on CO2 if it hasn't even been driven 10km!!!

[Vekke]

Originally Posted by euromodder

That's a difficult car to showcase anything with, as it already has many ecomods done to it by VW, and is already highly efficient.
There aren't that many of them around either : 69 "3L" are for sale in Europe according to autoscout24, out of 2056 Lupo's on their site.

Lupo is chosen for that reason that it can get best MPG:s for lowest money invested.

It's also quite an old car - the youngest are already 5 years old, so they're already beyond half their useful life, so they only have half the time left to repay any investment in ecomods.

That depends how old you want to drive your car. If the current one gets better mileage than the cars sold at the moment and it works why to change?

There are a lot of different cars out there, so you can't mod them all.
Picking the right cars to start the modding business with will be crucial.

Rear wheel fenders, grill block and flat hubcabs can be done to every car with little effort.

IMO, the car you showcase should

• be popular, so you have a lot of potential customers - but not an icon like a Mini as people may be reluctant to mod it ;
• be popular in countries with higher environmental awareness, like Scandinavia - despite the green hype, a lot of people can't be bothered ;
• not be too expensive, so it's bought by people who may actually want to save some money on gas ;
• have room for some easy improvements ;
• be rather recent but not brand new ;
• not be a car that is mostly sold to leasing companies - unless you can get them or their clients interested of course ;

That's a good start !


300 euro's won't buy me a lot of car parts - a spoiler or some el-cheapo wheels .
Are you sure you can design, manufacture and sell an entire modding kit for that price ?

That 300 € was an estimate, but you could produse those Rear wheel fenders, grill block and flat hubcabs can be done to that money. and the savings in average car could be that 1€ in highway driving. with current petrol price that is only 0,7 liters

Unfortunately, those taxes don't take any ecomodding efforts into account.

Yes thats true


IMHO, the entire EU should tax cars only by the amount of fuel they effectively use (i.e. tax at the pump), it's the only way that takes both engine size and the way it's driven into account.
But that's a different story .

I did this quote wrong

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Vekke

I did this quote wrong

It only makes it tougher to quote

Lupo is chosen for that reason that it can get best MPG:s for lowest money invested.

Sure.
Though they've been sought after when fuel prices went up in 2008, and Lupo 3L prices went up as well.
It can get good MPG, but by design, not by aftermarket mods.
However, it can show what could be done by such mods and may help to convince a sceptical public.

Rear wheel fenders, grill block and flat hubcabs can be done to every car with little effort.

Wheelcaps could be standard sizes - but they require steel wheels, while ever fewer cars have steel wheels as standard.
Steel wheels are often used for winter tyres though, so there's a market.

Everything else would need to be made to fit the specific car.
That's a lot of design work, and a lot of different parts.

you could produse those Rear wheel fenders, grill block and flat hubcabs can be done to that money.

If you ever do a set for the Volvo V50, I'll buy the rear fenders

[Piwoslaw]

Find subcontractors that already make similar products and get in touch with them. If you order enough, then you'll get a good price, and maybe put your logo on the parts.

There already are companies that make grille blocks ("grille winter covers") for certain models. For example, click on the following image for Skoda covers (25-35€):



Yes, Arragonis, they have Fabia covers

For other models: There are also lots of companies that make plastic grille replacements. You can contact some of them and ask if they would make a "full" version, without the holes, or with a sliding partial cover.

Wheel covers: Contact any company that makes plastic hubcaps and ask if they would make full, flat ones for you. You'd have to order at least 100-500 to make it worth while, in each size from 13" to 16". Estimated cost: 10-30€ for a set of 4.
I once sent a few e-mails, but noone answered If you have more luck, then I'll be the first to order them from you

For alloy wheels you may try to attach them to the screws instead of the rims, like the mini-caps on Skoda Felicia wheels.

[Dr. Jerryrigger]

I haven't thought of anything good for your name, but would like to echo some things euromodder said about your business plan.
You need to identify what your target customer is driving. It would be good to go with a very popular car first. It would also be good to pick one that has a lot of room for improvements, so your product can easily make a very noticeable differences in mileage.
It also may be good to ignore that and go for a nitch market for a lesser known car. One that are mostly driven by people who think about MPG's more than the average person. I live in the states, so I don't know what to suggest, but here I would recommend ether a honda civic (popular) or toyota pris (nitch).

[SvdM]

The only way I think [for now] a cover over an existing alloy wheel might work is if you tap the back end of the nuts that hold the wheel in place [with an M6 hole or so], but there are so many different alloy wheel designs that you'd battle to make this work for all...

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by SvdM

The only way I think [for now] a cover over an existing alloy wheel might work is if you tap the back end of the nuts that hold the wheel in place [with an M6 hole or so], but there are so many different alloy wheel designs that you'd battle to make this work for all...

I wouldn't build a business plan on the hopes that people will start drilling their alloy wheels or wheelnuts.

Relatively few people go about modifying their cars.
Even fewer modify their cars for better fuel consumption.


I do think Vekke's plan can work if the parts are easy to fit ; if fitting them is reversible without damage; if they're effective at reducing fuel consumption (that is: the proven mods on the ecomodder list); and if they're cheap enough not to scare people away from the initial investment.