Also, not every car company CARES about selling modifications. Yes, has become somewhat popular with the tuning community (Hell, they sponsored 2Fast2Furious), but that doesn't mean they WANT you to change the car.

Look at it this way - go to a Buick dealership and ask for a strut brace. Watch them laugh at you. Selling "aftermarket" parts is not a normal thing for a car company. The few companies that actually do it are just exceptions to the rule.

 

i totally get your point but i'm talking about strut bars and sport springs here. i can see maybe an intake or header possibly causing problems, but swapping out a muffler for a "sport" muffler that adds 2 hp and more noise? it's all about risk vs benefit. in this case i believe there is a LOT of money to be made if done correctly. the way i see it, it's like selling options on cars. the more sh*t you put on the car the more that can go wrong, yes. BUT people buy these options and you make money because how many people come in for a defective part if it was properly made in the first place?

my whole point is that they don't even sell "safe" parts, so forget about true performance parts like cam kits or turbos...

 

Yes but strut bars will need 100% fitment (meaning no rattling, no fiddling, just a straight bolt-on job) and springs will need to be comfortable and stock strut safe. If you actually look at most of the parts offered by companies like Nissan and Subaru, they have a little disclaimer that says "not for highway use" or "not covered by factory warranty" which makes them no better than other aftermarket parts. Hell the springs offered by Subaru are just Eibachs. Safe parts are not safe and there's not a lot of money in it for the main manufacturers right now.

 

well if you're at a buick dealer obviously not. but if you're at a porsche dealer, you might expect them to sell performance upgrades, no? this is what's wrong with mitsu. they try to be like honda or toyota but fail miserably as their product just isn;t good enough. but they also are too scared to cater more to the enthusiast side of the market. nissan IMO has turned their company around simply by having the most horsepower in each class. best cars in class? probably not. but fast? you bet. do they sell? yep. coincidence? IMO no!!!

i'm no businessman, but i am just wondering out loud why car companies stand still while other companies are making tons of profit making parts for THEIR product. makes no sense to me. look at microsoft. a lot of us use windows. a lot of companies make programs for windows. BUT they try to compete with other companies that make programs/software for the PC and not just try to sell their OS only. same here IMO. build a car, sell parts for it. hopefully your parts are as good and are covered under warranty. incentive for people to buy!!!!

 

well if the stock part has 100% fitment then how hard is it to make a prettier, slightly stronger version fit 100%??? we are talking about a METAL BAR here...

as for springs we don't necessarily need to go that sporty. but even so, if you can warranty the springs for an evo i'm sure you can warranty sportier springs for a GTS no?

and about the warranty. it doesn't even have to be under the factory warranty. the part can have it's own warranty 2 yrs, 3 yrs, whatever. the point is to stand behind your product.

are you saying it's impossible to stand behind aftermarket/"performance" products???

i disagree with the safe parts not making money. IMO they are the BEST way to make money. it's like selling a spoiler or body kit. you are selling an IDEA more so than an actual object. that 2hp you get from a throatier exhaust is nothing compared to the sound it makes as you try to pick up chicks with your car. in that effect, all those people who buy accessory air dams or lip spoilers, etc. are the same kinda people who would buy a sport suspension or sport exhaust. we aren't talking about tuners here, but college kids or general joes that want to BELIEVE that they are getting more performance.

 

I doubt Porsche sells performance upgrades, they don't want you making your current car faster, they want you to buy car. Something to consider, how much money do you think each individual company makes? How much money do you think RRM makes in year? I'd be willing to bet it fails in comparison to the millions a company like Mitsubishi would have to spend to make their own parts. As Doug mentioned, car companies don't want you modifying your car.

 

never say never, a few years ago GM didn't care about the sport compact scene.. now they make performance parts for the cobalt and such (intake, exhaust) so you never know.

 

Quick thoughts:

1. You seem to want to be like other companies. Why did you buy a ?
An analogy: If you constantly try to get your GF to change and be like some other girl you know, shouldn't you just dump your GF and be with the girl you really want?

2. You saying that Nissan "turned their company around" and selling parts is "not a coincidence in your opinion." My opinion is that you're 100% wrong. So our opinions on this matter can be mutually exclusive. . .

3. I don't see your MS analogy working. As Nick (amby) pointed out, doesn't want to sell you a $100 strut bar. As far as they're concerned, they don't want to see you again unless you're back to drop $25 on a new car. That's how car companies work.

4. You act like my Buick comment was stupid, but you're missing the point. Think of all the car companies you can remember. Count the ones that sell factory-backed aftermarket parts. I bet it's a damn small percentage. For every Dodge (MOPAR), there's Buick and Cadillac and Hyundia and that don't sell parts.

No, you're missing the point. does make aftermarket parts. They have Ralliart. The whole point of this conversation originally was about the fact that we can't GET these parts because they're Japan-only items. Only way for us to purchase them is to import them. But they do exist.

 

i don't think porsche sells any upgrades. but my point was all about mindset. you buy a sporty car you'd expect sporty parts.

i don't think companies like RRM make a lot, but collectively the industry garners a lot of profit i'm sure. all the while no car company has even tried to bite into that profit.

that's partly my question. exactly how expensive is it to make a colored bar and call it a sporty strut bar? if it costs a company like RRM X amount of $, how can it possibly cost mitsu more?

lastly yes they don't want YOU to modify the car. but i'm sure they'd LOVE to sell you a part and THEY modify it for you. that's the whole thing. NO manufacturer has stepped up to the plate and made a REAL effort to sell parts like they sell options...

 

not mitsu specifically, but in general the whole industry has not tried to make, sell, and market their own aftermarket parts. i guess scion is the closest thing but too bad their cars suck. is there money to be made from this? look at all the companies at SEMA. they sure survive enough to make it to the show every year... add that little bit of profit to auto sales and you get more money. how can this be bad business?

you missed my point. my point was that nissan are selling tons more cars than before because their cars are class leading fast, not necessarily because they're the best cars overall. NOTHING to do with parts. the point with mitsu is that they are in between honda/toyota (conservative money makers) and nissan (fast cars but not sales leaders) and that is leading to their downfall. they must choose a side in order to get some damn brand identity...

my analogy had to do with the idea that once a company sells you a car they want nothing else to do with you, like you say. why don't they try to sell you parts or other things to milk more money outta you? maybe this business model is crap but unless you're BMW with consistent sales numbers, struggling companies like mitsu need SOMETHING to make more money. and i think this kinda scenario may be better for BOTH the company and the consumer. sure it's in their best interest to sell you another one of their cars instead of modifying the one you already have. problem is, how many chevy cobalt owners buy another cobalt? or another GM product for that matter? how bout a 3 series owners? yep. maybe some companies better start thinking of another business model...

that's partly my point. there is NO "infrastructure" so to speak for car companies to sell their own parts. yeah you can get some nismo parts or mopar or whatever but it's certainly not widespread. certainly not the norm like selling options on cars. i honestly can't see how building a car with a cheap but ok sway bar stock and also offering a stiffer performance strut bar as an option or aftermarket part, is a bad idea? like how they build cheap radios and then offer the 1000 watt 17 speaker system, etc.

 

Like I said earlier, companies don't sell a sporty car under the premise of making sporty parts, they sell a sporty car under the premise that it's sporty enough for the buyer as it is. If you look at the cars that have manufacturer support, they're pseudosporty, relatively cheap cars. If you go out and buy a Porsche, they don't want you messing with all the engineering they did because to them, it's a waste of the car. They built it as is and you'll damn well enjoy it as is.
Comparing aftermarket companies to manfacturers isn't entirely fair as the aftermarket companies can make parts for an extremely large number of applications while the manufacturer is obviously limited to what they make. Why would Mitsubishi spend millions in R & D when they only have 3 or 4 cars that will actually be modified (3 lancer models and the eclipse)? It's not economical for them.

 

It depends on how many they sell. If they sell millions, then they won't care about modifications like bolt ons because it bolsters their image as tuner friendly. The Hyundai Tiburon became a big hit, and Hyundai, some dealers even warranty the Alpine supercharger kit.

 

madfast - you say you agree with all my points, but why are we still disagreeing?

In the end, it's just about opinion. I understand your points, but I just don't see doing any of that. They do what they do and they probably won't change. Because in the end, it's all a bunch of 50-year-old Japanese guys making safe decisions so they can collect their pension in a few years...

 

We need that CEO of Nissan to come over to Mitsu so he can put the same 3.5L engine in every single model car he makes.

 

I fully support that idea.