Quote:
Originally Posted by 300hpMR2
Guys and gals! With all due respect, get off his back. He is bringing new products to the community and you are bashing him? He isn't forcing you to buy them. Treat vendors this way and we'll be left with little to chose from. I imagine some of the price has to compensate for the low volume of sales expected. There aren't as many Lotuses as there are Honda Civics so there is no benefit of economies of scale.
The other day I saw a new titanium front strut bar for a Civic for $125 shipped. No one expects those prices for a Lotus. You guys should see how much Ferrari charges for a frickin' ashtray.
Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox now...  |
Yes, with the engineering costs, prototyping costs, machinist costs, materials and labor for the brackets to make the intercooler bolt onto the engine, the engine bay cover strut relocation bracket, weeks of data logging, etc. the $1285 (non anodized) MSRP is meant to offset a portion of the development costs. Call Lotus up and price a Cup intercooler: $2100+ MSRP. And, the Lotus Cup intercooler won't bolt on to your engine without modification, nor will your engine bay cover strut clear the intercooler.
It is a team effort: I'm working with some of the best engineers in motorsports. An ex Ferrari F1 forced induction engineer, Mr. Gerhard Schruf, has spent more hours on this product than I could have expected.
Can you order a generic intercooler on the Internet for a few hundred less? I'm sure you could. Will it have the same build quality? Will it have the Exige-specific mounting brackets and the Exige-specific duct rail? Will it be bar and plate construction? Will it have the plug n' play Bosch IAT bung? Will it come with adapter brackets to bolt onto your engine? Will the strut on your engine bay cover clear your Internet intercooler?
If you have more time than money, I encourage you to develop your own kit.
The reality is that if people can't justify developing these solutions by recovering some of their expenses, they just won't bother making the effort.
A sincere thank-you to those who have supported my new products... you keep the wind in my sails. 