I have been given a chance of a lifetime. The owner of my company is a long time car guy. He has a Viper, AC Cobra, Prowler, and a Panoz roadster.

For ***** and giggles, I asked him what it would take (profit margin) to open a motorsports division of his company. He said that profit was not a necessity. If I could come up with something that would support itself and break even, he would financially back it.

So with that being said, what is missing? Where should I go?

My thoughts....

I would like to develop a product that emphasizes quality not quantity. That being said, I need to approach a market where the owners have money. P cars, bimmers, etc. High end performance cars. Nothing wrong with the other end of the spectrum, but most of you know. We are cheap bastards. We bitch about spending $300 on a part. My boss just bought a $4000 set of headers for his Viper. Enough said!

Some ideas:

Attack the new BMW 1 series. I have a feeling this is going to be the next hot car.

He would like to see a supercharger for a Viper that replicates the new Corvette LS9.

We have the background to break into the in-car telemetry world, but that market is already saturated.

What would you do?

BTW....I am a mechanical engineer and I work for a electronics based company. We do a lot of homeland security type work (surveillance, communication, robotics, etc).

 

but if I told you my ideas, then how would I profit from them?

from your ideas, the 1 series is probably the best bet. find some high-margin item and supply it - expensive, gotta-have-it coilovers consist of pretty colors, unstated spring rates, the ability to drop the center of the car underground, and some sort of damper, which may or may not be effective when tied to the included springs. get your name out there, get someone to review it, then produce in limited quantities. but not too limited. profit city.

(am i a cynic? just a bit...)

 

Off-the-shelf, 100% plug in, in-dash car PC.

 

+1. Make it fit in a standard double din opening, give it a nice interface and price it lower that the AVIC-whatevers and such. You will sell a shitload of them.

 

+1. Sounds like profit city to me!

You all lookin' to hire a good wrench head?

 

I have a great idea on an automotive venture, however, location is important for my idea. Nothing novel, but should be effective

 

+12V artificial vagina! I guarantee a larger than break even investment. Let me know, if you come up with something I would be willing to add some of my own money...

 

i make those already
monitor w/ mount. external pc which mounts either in the trunk or under the seat or wherever else you might want to stuff it. cables look just like any other car stereo would and for $5 i can add plug and play harness for virtually any car.