Milk Carton Guy Looking for Advice

[Dave Smith]

Guys,

Sorry for the absence. Since the buy-out in January I've been pretty busy making MAJOR changes to the company (more news on that shortly) and it has required my virtually full-time commit. I am also going to have to declare PM bankruptcy and start over since I'm verging on 100 unanswered PM's! Sorry 'bout that.

The 818 project is humming along and as you can imagine we are planning on doing an update at our Open House. We've been testing the chassis, suspension, brakes, and vehicle dynamics. The engineers are testing today as a matter of fact. Everybody wants to know what the first body will look like and we have some great progress on the body/(s) and will likely be shown at the FFR Open House on June 9th. Silence on my side does not mean that progress hasn't been going full speed. I won't make stupid promises and let people down, but I will say we are on target for an official unveil at SEMA in November and production in the first half of 2013.

I can't say enough about the corporate partners this project has had supporting it. The guys at Solidworks Software, Tom at HP, Dustin at Wilwood Brakes, Stan at TOYO Tires, Jim at KONI Shocks, the guys at AJW, Tim at GRM Magazine, and a bunch of others... The technology we are using to design, build, and test this car is really impressive and has met the high bar I set for the project.

The biggest challenge right now and the question I have for you guys is the product introduction. We will unveil the production car at the 2012 SEMA show, but WHICH MODEL? Originally I conceived this chassis to serve three distinct roles. 1. Affordable Giant-slayer street car. 2. Potent Open Track weapon and 3. Build-it-yourself 65+ MPG commuter car.

Despite the fact that our TDI powered GTM continues to win Green Grand Prix races and accolades everywhere (and Simon and his team are ready to apply this technology to the 818), I've decided that we should launch the 818 in line with Factory Five's reputation for performance and chasiss competence. To me, right now it comes down to the 818R Open Track model or the 818 street model. If you look at case studies like the KTM X-Bow, the Atom, the Lotus two-eleven, etc... It seems that race versions get the lions share of the press. The truth is that we would begin selling the car in both race and street forms since the race form would really only vary in terms of the additional cage, spoilers, shocks, brakes, race stuff, etc but share the same core body shape.

My feeling is to SHOW the 818R version first and to make sure the car's performance image is set first. To establish that the performance potential of the car is above cars like Porsche Boxter/Cayman/911, the Lotus Exige/Evora, and other notable track cars including even the modified Subies and others... THAT seems to me to be the biggest priority.

Do you guys have any thoughts? I could show some renderings if you guys would like, but this is a MARKETING question for the small group who have followed the car since we announced the competition a year and 3 months ago.

Dave

IF we focus on the track car, there is no doubt that we will also have available the street version but the spotlight would shine most brightly on the 818 with a few upgraded components over the stock Subie 265 hp engine, stock brakes, street trim.

ALSO for clarity, the first street car will be a roadster with a soft top (the top will launch WITH the car at intro). The Competitioncar will be an open cockpit race version of the street car body. The High mpg car HAS to be a coupe. Other combinations can be considered, but I am personally selecting between a race version intro and a street car intro. I will also mention that Automobile Magazine's Ezra Dyer has breifly driven the chasiss for a fun article on the new McClaren using the GTM and the 818 chassis for fun value comparos...