APC Product Feedback

[CamelTouge]

I work at the newly redesigned APC. As a person that has input over whats now being made, i look at the 240 kit that we offer and i think there shoud be some changes to it. The rest of the folk here are wanting to hear some feedback over what people think of the kit. My personal opinion is that the front, rear and front fenders are clean, its just that the sides do not go well with this kit.

I know APC doesnt go well with a lot of people on this thread, and trust me, we hear you, but im looking to you guys for your opinions. Im trying to change the company from the inside. We took the car out to NOPI nationals in Georgia, and the NICO club as well as several drift fans liked the kit, for the most part.

If anyone is also interested in specific parts of this kit, let me know.

[CamelTouge]

here is the front and side view

[CamelTouge]

oops, file was too big...here is the kit, minus the carbon fiber kanaards on the side.

[CRASHDRIVE]

This is just my constructive criticism since you guys want to "Re-Construct" APCs image;

For body-kits; why not make useful body-kits; such as:

CF Rear-Air-Defuser (that's been track tested to individual cars).

CF (or cheaper yet durable alternate) Adjustable GT Wing (and sponsor a real race car to test it on).

Skirts... that kind-of leaves the OEM style in it and with usefull air ducts (eg; BN Sport kits; TRD N2 package or even the Sexy Knights kit).

CF (or cheaper yet durable alternate) = front lips


maybe no APC euro tail lights?... well not my cup of tea but i'm pretty sure you guys still have a good market for it.

Anyways.. I'm not really sure what you guys make in-house; but I see a lot of useless "performance parts" that gets in a car that's not necessary... like some sort of disco lights.. in the cockpit of the car.. which can cause a sudden glare to the windshield and cause you to close your eyes while driving .

Quick question: What is APCs business model?
Who's the target audience? is it tuners? REAL race car drivers? Collectors? Show car models? :-D

Oh for the kit on the 180.... Lose the side skirts or make it straight and remove those curvey lines.

I kind-of like the front... uses the OEM kouki front bumper as the base platform.

just my .2 centavo ^_^
Good luck with remodeling APC.

[Ghost of Duluth]

I agree, those side skirts remind me of something out of an 80's Sci-Fi film. Like the old Predator kit for the Ford Probe, horrid. The rest of the kit is decent.

As for you remaking APC, the problem is the name. Nobody should take what I am about to say wrong, so none of you get mad at me for saying this but the only cars i see APC on are Mexicans. Nothing wrong with that (or my Mexican brothers) but you coming onto a forum to ask the opinions of Drifters about your products, which 99% of them will not see their way onto a real Drift car is weird. I know you guys want to break into this market but you are going to have to choose. Do you want to be taken seriously by mostly serious people and make quality parts that help out or do you want to cater to the mass, low quality, Auto Zone, Pep Boys arena.. Because you can't have both.

The rear diffuser mentioned above is an excellent idea as I don't recall seeing one offered outside of Japan. If you really want to make a change from the inside, you are going to fight a losing battle because APC's profit margin is going to suffer for sure. That's just my opinion but if you want to change your image you got one hell of a road ahead of you if you continue to use the APC name.

[CamelTouge]

Crash and Ghost, thank your for your opinions. I know its rather impossible to change the ways that this company was built upon, but ill do what i can. TO answer you questions, our market is basically the tuner/enthusiast crowd, on the lines of cosmetic upgrades, rather than performance (we do not have the R&D capabilities to do so). Most of the kits out now are built in the same fashion, for cosmetic and not performance, but our quality is the same, if not better than the others (on the kits). With the volume of sales and distributors that we have (yes you can buy a kit in pepboys), it is a more inexpensive option to buying an m-sports or gp kit from japan, only to drift and cause damage.
The name APC is either hated or loved in the automotive industry. We are in several different divisions in the industry (sportcom/truck/off-road), and we got into the drifting side, but we lost focus. Alot of people do not know this but APC was one of the first, if not the first, american company to bring drifting to the states (thanks to lorin). We still do D1usa shows and we do get alot of people asking about the kit and our hood for the 240/180sx. I wish we could be on the performance side of it all, but its always been on the cosmetic side and thats the companys stand on that. I know all of us on this forum wouldnt associate APC as a performance company (with the exception of our intakes). The diffuser kit is an excellent idea, and i will still suggest it to the company, but i would highly doubt that they would change the kit that we currently offer.
My side skirts as everyone has said, are hideous. I want to get as much input on these skirts so please keep the responses coming. Hopefully, this is something that I can change. Its not a bad kit, even some formula d and d1 drivers have said the same. Its just these damn sideskirts!
Crash, k-magic has some LED eurotails on the market for the s13 already, so this is something well probably not pursue. Eurotails are big in Japan, but for the us 240, not many people have been asking for them.

Once again, thanks for all of your input and critics. I appreciate all of them.
If anyone is interested in the more inexpensive alternate to a JDM kit, I have a kit for the s13. Hopefully ill get the sides changed. I sell the pieces individually as well.

thanks again everyone.

tree.

[dreamdrivedrift]

The side skirts look horrible because of the curves and the black piece, near the rear fender. If you made it something like a origin kit it would be nice, just straight down, and maybe flared out a little bit. the front air dam could extend a little lower IMO, a bit more aggressive. and though the canards aren't on the kit, they look like a little plastic piece from home depot.

[CamelTouge]

hahahha...thanks

[FD3S_pilot]

Looks like the sideskirts have been "discussed"....so i'll move on....
i actually think the look of the front bumper is good...it's not too agressive yet not too plain, and like crash mention it does look like you guy use the kouki as a base platform, which actually turn out good.but lose those cf thingins, they look yuckyAs for the rear bumper, can't really comment 'cause the picture is too blurrly.
You guys at APC should track test you products to see if it actually helps the car dynamics not just visual. Thus, giving you guy a sense of what and where to improve on. You say that "most" of the Apc kits are for cosmetic and not performance, that's where it's going too hurt Apc the most. Most logical people(i say logical because there are some people that just buy crap base on impulse), would want a kit with a sense of both. Something lookin hot,yet actaully helping the car's dynamics.
Lastly,like Ghost said, Apc needs to change its name. The reputation of Apc is kinda not so popular among us. But, if changing the compay's name isn't a option, consider making a line of products for "drifting" using a different name or sub-division but still have Apc as its parent company.But don't have the Apc label on the products.
Also have Apc sponser small local drift events, but I don't mean car shows! This will definitly boost the image of Apc among the people.
I hope this helps. Good look in remaking Apc. I look forward on how Apc will turn out in the end.

-Frank

[dreamdrivedrift]

I don't see CF on the rear bumper

[Ghost of Duluth]

No problem man, and believe me, I do remember Lorin and APC bringing big named Japanese Drifting to the states. Much love and respect for that.

I still think the CF rear diffuser would be the el bombo. Diffusers are an open market it seems to me, a niche market but an open one for sure.

[driftersil80]

I know that this has kind of been discussed, but I still want to add my imput. If you want to be a "performance" company, GREAT! And if you want to be a "cosmetic" company, GREAT! So long as WHATEVER you all do you do it RIGHT. I dont think theres a problem with APC being a cosmetics company, but the kits you make need to be useful. If APC made a kit with the proper diffusers and air ducts, I would have NO problem buying it, EVEN with the APC name. But again....USEFUL. Ok im done.

[dreamdrivedrift]

I know that this has kind of been discussed, but I still want to add my imput. If you want to be a "performance" company, GREAT! And if you want to be a "cosmetic" company, GREAT! So long as WHATEVER you all do you do it RIGHT. I dont think theres a problem with APC being a cosmetics company, but the kits you make need to be useful. If APC made a kit with the proper diffusers and air ducts, I would have NO problem buying it, EVEN with the APC name. But again....USEFUL. Ok im done.

You're contraddicting yourself. When you say with the proper diffusers and air ducts, proper means there has to be some R&D testing, for the diffusers and air ducts to function as they are supposed to. cameltouge has posted that APC does not have the capabilities to do performance R&D. Anyways, body kits are usually bought for cosmetic reasons, not for performance reasons. Notice the usually, I know there are some of you out there that are looking for the sleekest CD, but kits are typically bought to bring your car to a new cosmetic level.

[Mike_S13]

i know that you want your own identity but i think having something like the Origin Body Kit is probably best bet to when drift fan over. I don't own a 240SX anymore but if i did i would've bought something from Origin. But thats just me... you have a bad *Censored**Censored**Censored* job buy the way. Tell me if you guys are ever hiring:P

[MonkeySlide]

I like the kit..well the front bumper anyway...I share everyone else's opinion on the side skirts..

So you want to turn APC's image around huh? That is a tall order sir.

What kind of strategy did you guys have in place to turn things around? Im pretty interested in this because APC is already a pretty large company, so if you could gain more respect you'd be a real force in the industry..well more so than now anyway.