SEMA News—October 2014

EDUCATION

SEMA Vehicle Technology Briefing Sessions

By Steve Campbell

The SEMA Vehicle Technology Briefing Seminar program is designed to connect SEMA members to the benefits of vehicle technology and performance product-development solutions, resources and partnerships. From racing and performance design to branding and driving green, connected, safe and cool, cutting-edge technologies will be the focus of discussions at this year’s SEMA Show by industry leaders and innovators who will explain current and future systems and technology applications.

Throughout the SEMA Show, leading advanced vehicle technology experts will discuss SEMA’s vehicle technology programs, partners, solutions and benefits. Learn what participating members are doing to gain competitive advantages, reduce product development costs, leverage new technologies for growth and ensure compliance of aftermarket-modified vehicles for vehicle emissions and dynamics. For more information, visit http://www.semashow.com/.

2014 SEMA Show Vehicle Technology Briefing Seminar Series

Vehicle Dynamics Forum

Monday, November 3
1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m., LVCC N258–N260
Moderator: John Waraniak, Vice President Vehicle Technology, SEMA
Speakers: Paul Venhovens, BMW Endowed Chair in Automotive Systems Integration, CU-ICAR; Paul Williamsen, National Manager, Strategic Educational Support, International Market Enhancement Team, Lexus International; Tom Gillespie, Co-Founder and Director of Product Planning, Mechanical Simulation; Terry Ledwidge, Director of New Business Development, Link Engineering; Mark Turner, CEO, Daystar; Joe Schaefer, President, Konig American

Powertrain Forum

Tuesday, November 4
11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m., LVCC N258–N260
Moderator: John Waraniak, Vice President Vehicle Technology, SEMA
Speakers: Rob Prucka, Assistant Professor, Department of Automotive Engineering at CU-ICAR; Brett Smith, Program Director, Industry Analysis and Community Activities, Center for Automotive Research; Todd Petersen, Chief Innovation Officer, MSD Performance; Bruce Falls, Director of Engineering, California Technology Center of AVL North America; Russ Deane, General Counsel, SEMA

Racing and Performance Forum

Tuesday, November 4
1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m.,
Moderator: John Waraniak, Vice President Vehicle Technology, SEMA
Speakers: Jim Campbell, Vice President of General Motors Performance Vehicles and Motorsports; David Wilson, President and General Manager at Toyota Racing Development USA; Colin Dyne, CEO and Chairman, Global RallyCross; Julian Gill, CEO, Eibach Group; Alvin Springer, former President, Porsche Motorsport North America; Dennis Michelsen, American motorsports journalist and host “RaceTalkRadio”

Performance Branding and Design Forum

Wednesday, November 5
1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m., LVCC N258–N260
Moderator: John Waraniak, Vice President Vehicle Technology, SE
Speakers: Tom Peters, Director of Exterior Design, Performance Car, General Motors; Brandon Boeckmann, President, Galpin Auto Sports; Robert Egger, Creative Designer, Specialized; Scott Bowers, Chief Brand Officer, Factory Design Labs; Al Van Noy, Global Head of Innovation, Adidas; Jacques Panis, President, Shinola; Camillo Pardo, Founder Art and Design, Ford GT Designer, Motor City Masters

Digital Technology in the Car: Silicon Valley Technology Meets Motor City Applications

Thursday, November 6
9:00 a.m.–10:30 a.m., LVCC N258–N260
Moderators: John Waraniak, Vice President Vehicle Technology, SEMA; John Ellis, Global Technologist, Connected Services and Head of the Ford Developer Program, Ford Motor Co.; Nigel Francis, Senior Vice President, Automotive Industry Office, Michigan Economic Development Corp.; Danny Shapiro, Senior Director of Automotive, NVIDIA; Todd Petersen, Chief Innovation Officer, MSD Performance; Greg Krueger, Program Manager, Leidos; Justin Moon, Director of Innovation, Lixar IT, Mobile Connected Transportation

SEMA News—October 2014

EDUCATION

SEMA Vehicle Technology Briefing Sessions

By Steve Campbell

The SEMA Vehicle Technology Briefing Seminar program is designed to connect SEMA members to the benefits of vehicle technology and performance product-development solutions, resources and partnerships. From racing and performance design to branding and driving green, connected, safe and cool, cutting-edge technologies will be the focus of discussions at this year’s SEMA Show by industry leaders and innovators who will explain current and future systems and technology applications.

Throughout the SEMA Show, leading advanced vehicle technology experts will discuss SEMA’s vehicle technology programs, partners, solutions and benefits. Learn what participating members are doing to gain competitive advantages, reduce product development costs, leverage new technologies for growth and ensure compliance of aftermarket-modified vehicles for vehicle emissions and dynamics. For more information, visit http://www.semashow.com/.

2014 SEMA Show Vehicle Technology Briefing Seminar Series

Vehicle Dynamics Forum

Monday, November 3
1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m., LVCC N258–N260
Moderator: John Waraniak, Vice President Vehicle Technology, SEMA
Speakers: Paul Venhovens, BMW Endowed Chair in Automotive Systems Integration, CU-ICAR; Paul Williamsen, National Manager, Strategic Educational Support, International Market Enhancement Team, Lexus International; Tom Gillespie, Co-Founder and Director of Product Planning, Mechanical Simulation; Terry Ledwidge, Director of New Business Development, Link Engineering; Mark Turner, CEO, Daystar; Joe Schaefer, President, Konig American

Powertrain Forum

Tuesday, November 4
11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m., LVCC N258–N260
Moderator: John Waraniak, Vice President Vehicle Technology, SEMA
Speakers: Rob Prucka, Assistant Professor, Department of Automotive Engineering at CU-ICAR; Brett Smith, Program Director, Industry Analysis and Community Activities, Center for Automotive Research; Todd Petersen, Chief Innovation Officer, MSD Performance; Bruce Falls, Director of Engineering, California Technology Center of AVL North America; Russ Deane, General Counsel, SEMA

Racing and Performance Forum

Tuesday, November 4
1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m.,
Moderator: John Waraniak, Vice President Vehicle Technology, SEMA
Speakers: Jim Campbell, Vice President of General Motors Performance Vehicles and Motorsports; David Wilson, President and General Manager at Toyota Racing Development USA; Colin Dyne, CEO and Chairman, Global RallyCross; Julian Gill, CEO, Eibach Group; Alvin Springer, former President, Porsche Motorsport North America; Dennis Michelsen, American motorsports journalist and host “RaceTalkRadio”

Performance Branding and Design Forum

Wednesday, November 5
1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m., LVCC N258–N260
Moderator: John Waraniak, Vice President Vehicle Technology, SE
Speakers: Tom Peters, Director of Exterior Design, Performance Car, General Motors; Brandon Boeckmann, President, Galpin Auto Sports; Robert Egger, Creative Designer, Specialized; Scott Bowers, Chief Brand Officer, Factory Design Labs; Al Van Noy, Global Head of Innovation, Adidas; Jacques Panis, President, Shinola; Camillo Pardo, Founder Art and Design, Ford GT Designer, Motor City Masters

Digital Technology in the Car: Silicon Valley Technology Meets Motor City Applications

Thursday, November 6
9:00 a.m.–10:30 a.m., LVCC N258–N260
Moderators: John Waraniak, Vice President Vehicle Technology, SEMA; John Ellis, Global Technologist, Connected Services and Head of the Ford Developer Program, Ford Motor Co.; Nigel Francis, Senior Vice President, Automotive Industry Office, Michigan Economic Development Corp.; Danny Shapiro, Senior Director of Automotive, NVIDIA; Todd Petersen, Chief Innovation Officer, MSD Performance; Greg Krueger, Program Manager, Leidos; Justin Moon, Director of Innovation, Lixar IT, Mobile Connected Transportation

SEMA News—October 2014

BUSINESS

By Mike Imlay

Retailer Spotlight

Kaizen Tuning Partners With Suppliers for Success

“It was brutal, but we really saw a need,” he recalled. “I took delivery of one of the first Nissan GTRs on the East Coast. I’ve been to Japan many times and have seen how that car is treated over there. You don’t even need an appointment at a Nissan dealership for service. Here in the United States, [the dealership] didn’t really know how to handle a $100,000 supercar. They were treating it like a Sentra or a Maxima. That wasn’t going to work for me, so I started servicing it out of my home garage. After we were probably a month in, I had about five of them in my driveway. My wife told me it was about time to find someplace to do the business full time.”

McIver has seen his gamble pay off. Today, Kaizen Tuning has grown to a 10,000-sq.-ft. enterprise employing 10 highly skilled people, with sales topping $1 million annually. The retailer is well known throughout the New England area for its expertise in high-performance sports cars, starting with the Nissan GTR and Mitsubishi EVO and including Porsche, Subaru and Audi platforms, among
many others.

So what exactly led to Kaizen Tuning’s rapid success? It might partly be the philosophy expressed by the shop name.

“Kaizen means constant improvement,” McIver said. “It’s a Japanese term that’s used in all the automotive manufacturing fields to do small changes, measure the results and, at the end of the day, have better results than one big change.”

Then again, having an upscale clientele of vehicle owners composed of doctors, lawyers and other professionals, many of whom actually relish the performance of their cars on a track, certainly hasn’t hurt either.

“It was an amazing, beautiful blue car,” he said. “The most aggressive car I’ve ever seen in my life.” And when the vehicle became available in the United States, he jumped at the chance to own one and personally dive up to his elbows into its mechanics.

“We really concentrated on the GTR to start and were one of the first companies in the Northeast to do so,” he said. “However, the business just wasn’t sustainable concentrating on one vehicle. We moved out to the Mitsubishi EVO and Subaru platforms and got a great result with both of those cars. We bought one of each and took them apart and put them back together and started testing aftermarket parts on them to see who we wanted to use for product lines. We studied what worked and what didn’t, so when we talked to a customer, we could talk intelligently about recommendations and upgrade packages.

And therein, said McIver, lies the real secret behind Kaizen Tuning’s incredible growth: Beyond the passion, high-end customer service, concentration on a specific niche and constant improvement, it’s the strong relationships he has forged with his suppliers from the very beginning that have made Kaizen Tuning what it is.

“One of the things that makes us stand out over our competitors is how we work very closely with our manufacturers and distributors,” McIver said. “A lot of people use distributors and manufacturers as just a warehouse and someone they can beat up when they need parts cheap. We work hard with them to test and come out with the next thing, identify a market and really attack it. We’ve been very successful with that. Some of the companies we’ve worked closely with include HKS, Motovicity, Turn 14 and a Japanese company called Tomei, which is small but addresses some really specific needs. We get prototype parts, test them, provide feedback and then we get a great product in the end. That makes it hard to compete with us. We have an inherent knowledge of particular products that is unbeatable.”

In fact, McIver takes pride in working alongside with his manufacturers to further their research and development.

“We love doing that because it gets us involved with the grassroots of a product, and that helps us sell,” he said. “When we talk to a customer, we can speak on a level that is much more in-depth and technical, because we have had our hands in the guts of the product. We see what works and what doesn’t work firsthand. Believe me, we’ve had plenty of failures, products that just didn’t work out well.”

“Everything we do is track tested,” McIver said. “We’re on a first-name basis with our manufacturers, all the way down to the base engineers. They have been super appreciative of the feedback. In an engineering group, they sometimes bounce ideas off the wall and don’t get that outside injection of ideas. We think outside the box here, because not only are we a sales organization but we’re also all enthusiasts here. We bring the customer’s ideas to the engineers and they respond to them really well.”

In turn, said McIver, customers react positively to the knowledgeable, hands-on salespeople and technicians that such R&D yields. And, with a full showroom, six bays featuring lifts (including a four-poster with alignment and balancing systems), along with welding and full fabrication, the shop is kept plenty busy. Kaizen Tuning even produces its own in-house line of specialty parts under the Sakura Performance Engineering label.

“We’ve grown very quickly in a short time, and it’s mostly due to our business philosophy,” McIver concluded.

“I recommend that retailers get involved with their manufacturers and distributors on a more intimate basis. It can really help your business and lead to profit. When we work hand in hand with our partners, Kaizen Tuning achieves unparalleled success. It’s been a great ride.”

SEMA News—October 2014

BUSINESS

By Mike Imlay

Retailer Spotlight

Kaizen Tuning Partners With Suppliers for Success

“It was brutal, but we really saw a need,” he recalled. “I took delivery of one of the first Nissan GTRs on the East Coast. I’ve been to Japan many times and have seen how that car is treated over there. You don’t even need an appointment at a Nissan dealership for service. Here in the United States, [the dealership] didn’t really know how to handle a $100,000 supercar. They were treating it like a Sentra or a Maxima. That wasn’t going to work for me, so I started servicing it out of my home garage. After we were probably a month in, I had about five of them in my driveway. My wife told me it was about time to find someplace to do the business full time.”

McIver has seen his gamble pay off. Today, Kaizen Tuning has grown to a 10,000-sq.-ft. enterprise employing 10 highly skilled people, with sales topping $1 million annually. The retailer is well known throughout the New England area for its expertise in high-performance sports cars, starting with the Nissan GTR and Mitsubishi EVO and including Porsche, Subaru and Audi platforms, among
many others.

So what exactly led to Kaizen Tuning’s rapid success? It might partly be the philosophy expressed by the shop name.

“Kaizen means constant improvement,” McIver said. “It’s a Japanese term that’s used in all the automotive manufacturing fields to do small changes, measure the results and, at the end of the day, have better results than one big change.”

Then again, having an upscale clientele of vehicle owners composed of doctors, lawyers and other professionals, many of whom actually relish the performance of their cars on a track, certainly hasn’t hurt either.

“It was an amazing, beautiful blue car,” he said. “The most aggressive car I’ve ever seen in my life.” And when the vehicle became available in the United States, he jumped at the chance to own one and personally dive up to his elbows into its mechanics.

“We really concentrated on the GTR to start and were one of the first companies in the Northeast to do so,” he said. “However, the business just wasn’t sustainable concentrating on one vehicle. We moved out to the Mitsubishi EVO and Subaru platforms and got a great result with both of those cars. We bought one of each and took them apart and put them back together and started testing aftermarket parts on them to see who we wanted to use for product lines. We studied what worked and what didn’t, so when we talked to a customer, we could talk intelligently about recommendations and upgrade packages.

And therein, said McIver, lies the real secret behind Kaizen Tuning’s incredible growth: Beyond the passion, high-end customer service, concentration on a specific niche and constant improvement, it’s the strong relationships he has forged with his suppliers from the very beginning that have made Kaizen Tuning what it is.

“One of the things that makes us stand out over our competitors is how we work very closely with our manufacturers and distributors,” McIver said. “A lot of people use distributors and manufacturers as just a warehouse and someone they can beat up when they need parts cheap. We work hard with them to test and come out with the next thing, identify a market and really attack it. We’ve been very successful with that. Some of the companies we’ve worked closely with include HKS, Motovicity, Turn 14 and a Japanese company called Tomei, which is small but addresses some really specific needs. We get prototype parts, test them, provide feedback and then we get a great product in the end. That makes it hard to compete with us. We have an inherent knowledge of particular products that is unbeatable.”

In fact, McIver takes pride in working alongside with his manufacturers to further their research and development.

“We love doing that because it gets us involved with the grassroots of a product, and that helps us sell,” he said. “When we talk to a customer, we can speak on a level that is much more in-depth and technical, because we have had our hands in the guts of the product. We see what works and what doesn’t work firsthand. Believe me, we’ve had plenty of failures, products that just didn’t work out well.”

“Everything we do is track tested,” McIver said. “We’re on a first-name basis with our manufacturers, all the way down to the base engineers. They have been super appreciative of the feedback. In an engineering group, they sometimes bounce ideas off the wall and don’t get that outside injection of ideas. We think outside the box here, because not only are we a sales organization but we’re also all enthusiasts here. We bring the customer’s ideas to the engineers and they respond to them really well.”

In turn, said McIver, customers react positively to the knowledgeable, hands-on salespeople and technicians that such R&D yields. And, with a full showroom, six bays featuring lifts (including a four-poster with alignment and balancing systems), along with welding and full fabrication, the shop is kept plenty busy. Kaizen Tuning even produces its own in-house line of specialty parts under the Sakura Performance Engineering label.

“We’ve grown very quickly in a short time, and it’s mostly due to our business philosophy,” McIver concluded.

“I recommend that retailers get involved with their manufacturers and distributors on a more intimate basis. It can really help your business and lead to profit. When we work hand in hand with our partners, Kaizen Tuning achieves unparalleled success. It’s been a great ride.”

SEMA News—October 2014

BUSINESS

By Mike Imlay

Retailer Spotlight

Kaizen Tuning Partners With Suppliers for Success

“It was brutal, but we really saw a need,” he recalled. “I took delivery of one of the first Nissan GTRs on the East Coast. I’ve been to Japan many times and have seen how that car is treated over there. You don’t even need an appointment at a Nissan dealership for service. Here in the United States, [the dealership] didn’t really know how to handle a $100,000 supercar. They were treating it like a Sentra or a Maxima. That wasn’t going to work for me, so I started servicing it out of my home garage. After we were probably a month in, I had about five of them in my driveway. My wife told me it was about time to find someplace to do the business full time.”

McIver has seen his gamble pay off. Today, Kaizen Tuning has grown to a 10,000-sq.-ft. enterprise employing 10 highly skilled people, with sales topping $1 million annually. The retailer is well known throughout the New England area for its expertise in high-performance sports cars, starting with the Nissan GTR and Mitsubishi EVO and including Porsche, Subaru and Audi platforms, among
many others.

So what exactly led to Kaizen Tuning’s rapid success? It might partly be the philosophy expressed by the shop name.

“Kaizen means constant improvement,” McIver said. “It’s a Japanese term that’s used in all the automotive manufacturing fields to do small changes, measure the results and, at the end of the day, have better results than one big change.”

Then again, having an upscale clientele of vehicle owners composed of doctors, lawyers and other professionals, many of whom actually relish the performance of their cars on a track, certainly hasn’t hurt either.

“It was an amazing, beautiful blue car,” he said. “The most aggressive car I’ve ever seen in my life.” And when the vehicle became available in the United States, he jumped at the chance to own one and personally dive up to his elbows into its mechanics.

“We really concentrated on the GTR to start and were one of the first companies in the Northeast to do so,” he said. “However, the business just wasn’t sustainable concentrating on one vehicle. We moved out to the Mitsubishi EVO and Subaru platforms and got a great result with both of those cars. We bought one of each and took them apart and put them back together and started testing aftermarket parts on them to see who we wanted to use for product lines. We studied what worked and what didn’t, so when we talked to a customer, we could talk intelligently about recommendations and upgrade packages.

And therein, said McIver, lies the real secret behind Kaizen Tuning’s incredible growth: Beyond the passion, high-end customer service, concentration on a specific niche and constant improvement, it’s the strong relationships he has forged with his suppliers from the very beginning that have made Kaizen Tuning what it is.

“One of the things that makes us stand out over our competitors is how we work very closely with our manufacturers and distributors,” McIver said. “A lot of people use distributors and manufacturers as just a warehouse and someone they can beat up when they need parts cheap. We work hard with them to test and come out with the next thing, identify a market and really attack it. We’ve been very successful with that. Some of the companies we’ve worked closely with include HKS, Motovicity, Turn 14 and a Japanese company called Tomei, which is small but addresses some really specific needs. We get prototype parts, test them, provide feedback and then we get a great product in the end. That makes it hard to compete with us. We have an inherent knowledge of particular products that is unbeatable.”

In fact, McIver takes pride in working alongside with his manufacturers to further their research and development.

“We love doing that because it gets us involved with the grassroots of a product, and that helps us sell,” he said. “When we talk to a customer, we can speak on a level that is much more in-depth and technical, because we have had our hands in the guts of the product. We see what works and what doesn’t work firsthand. Believe me, we’ve had plenty of failures, products that just didn’t work out well.”

“Everything we do is track tested,” McIver said. “We’re on a first-name basis with our manufacturers, all the way down to the base engineers. They have been super appreciative of the feedback. In an engineering group, they sometimes bounce ideas off the wall and don’t get that outside injection of ideas. We think outside the box here, because not only are we a sales organization but we’re also all enthusiasts here. We bring the customer’s ideas to the engineers and they respond to them really well.”

In turn, said McIver, customers react positively to the knowledgeable, hands-on salespeople and technicians that such R&D yields. And, with a full showroom, six bays featuring lifts (including a four-poster with alignment and balancing systems), along with welding and full fabrication, the shop is kept plenty busy. Kaizen Tuning even produces its own in-house line of specialty parts under the Sakura Performance Engineering label.

“We’ve grown very quickly in a short time, and it’s mostly due to our business philosophy,” McIver concluded.

“I recommend that retailers get involved with their manufacturers and distributors on a more intimate basis. It can really help your business and lead to profit. When we work hand in hand with our partners, Kaizen Tuning achieves unparalleled success. It’s been a great ride.”

SEMA News—October 2014

BUSINESS

By Mike Imlay

Retailer Spotlight

Kaizen Tuning Partners With Suppliers for Success

“It was brutal, but we really saw a need,” he recalled. “I took delivery of one of the first Nissan GTRs on the East Coast. I’ve been to Japan many times and have seen how that car is treated over there. You don’t even need an appointment at a Nissan dealership for service. Here in the United States, [the dealership] didn’t really know how to handle a $100,000 supercar. They were treating it like a Sentra or a Maxima. That wasn’t going to work for me, so I started servicing it out of my home garage. After we were probably a month in, I had about five of them in my driveway. My wife told me it was about time to find someplace to do the business full time.”

McIver has seen his gamble pay off. Today, Kaizen Tuning has grown to a 10,000-sq.-ft. enterprise employing 10 highly skilled people, with sales topping $1 million annually. The retailer is well known throughout the New England area for its expertise in high-performance sports cars, starting with the Nissan GTR and Mitsubishi EVO and including Porsche, Subaru and Audi platforms, among
many others.

So what exactly led to Kaizen Tuning’s rapid success? It might partly be the philosophy expressed by the shop name.

“Kaizen means constant improvement,” McIver said. “It’s a Japanese term that’s used in all the automotive manufacturing fields to do small changes, measure the results and, at the end of the day, have better results than one big change.”

Then again, having an upscale clientele of vehicle owners composed of doctors, lawyers and other professionals, many of whom actually relish the performance of their cars on a track, certainly hasn’t hurt either.

“It was an amazing, beautiful blue car,” he said. “The most aggressive car I’ve ever seen in my life.” And when the vehicle became available in the United States, he jumped at the chance to own one and personally dive up to his elbows into its mechanics.

“We really concentrated on the GTR to start and were one of the first companies in the Northeast to do so,” he said. “However, the business just wasn’t sustainable concentrating on one vehicle. We moved out to the Mitsubishi EVO and Subaru platforms and got a great result with both of those cars. We bought one of each and took them apart and put them back together and started testing aftermarket parts on them to see who we wanted to use for product lines. We studied what worked and what didn’t, so when we talked to a customer, we could talk intelligently about recommendations and upgrade packages.

And therein, said McIver, lies the real secret behind Kaizen Tuning’s incredible growth: Beyond the passion, high-end customer service, concentration on a specific niche and constant improvement, it’s the strong relationships he has forged with his suppliers from the very beginning that have made Kaizen Tuning what it is.

“One of the things that makes us stand out over our competitors is how we work very closely with our manufacturers and distributors,” McIver said. “A lot of people use distributors and manufacturers as just a warehouse and someone they can beat up when they need parts cheap. We work hard with them to test and come out with the next thing, identify a market and really attack it. We’ve been very successful with that. Some of the companies we’ve worked closely with include HKS, Motovicity, Turn 14 and a Japanese company called Tomei, which is small but addresses some really specific needs. We get prototype parts, test them, provide feedback and then we get a great product in the end. That makes it hard to compete with us. We have an inherent knowledge of particular products that is unbeatable.”

In fact, McIver takes pride in working alongside with his manufacturers to further their research and development.

“We love doing that because it gets us involved with the grassroots of a product, and that helps us sell,” he said. “When we talk to a customer, we can speak on a level that is much more in-depth and technical, because we have had our hands in the guts of the product. We see what works and what doesn’t work firsthand. Believe me, we’ve had plenty of failures, products that just didn’t work out well.”

“Everything we do is track tested,” McIver said. “We’re on a first-name basis with our manufacturers, all the way down to the base engineers. They have been super appreciative of the feedback. In an engineering group, they sometimes bounce ideas off the wall and don’t get that outside injection of ideas. We think outside the box here, because not only are we a sales organization but we’re also all enthusiasts here. We bring the customer’s ideas to the engineers and they respond to them really well.”

In turn, said McIver, customers react positively to the knowledgeable, hands-on salespeople and technicians that such R&D yields. And, with a full showroom, six bays featuring lifts (including a four-poster with alignment and balancing systems), along with welding and full fabrication, the shop is kept plenty busy. Kaizen Tuning even produces its own in-house line of specialty parts under the Sakura Performance Engineering label.

“We’ve grown very quickly in a short time, and it’s mostly due to our business philosophy,” McIver concluded.

“I recommend that retailers get involved with their manufacturers and distributors on a more intimate basis. It can really help your business and lead to profit. When we work hand in hand with our partners, Kaizen Tuning achieves unparalleled success. It’s been a great ride.”

SEMA News—October 2014

BUSINESS

By Mike Imlay

Retailer Spotlight

Kaizen Tuning Partners With Suppliers for Success

“It was brutal, but we really saw a need,” he recalled. “I took delivery of one of the first Nissan GTRs on the East Coast. I’ve been to Japan many times and have seen how that car is treated over there. You don’t even need an appointment at a Nissan dealership for service. Here in the United States, [the dealership] didn’t really know how to handle a $100,000 supercar. They were treating it like a Sentra or a Maxima. That wasn’t going to work for me, so I started servicing it out of my home garage. After we were probably a month in, I had about five of them in my driveway. My wife told me it was about time to find someplace to do the business full time.”

McIver has seen his gamble pay off. Today, Kaizen Tuning has grown to a 10,000-sq.-ft. enterprise employing 10 highly skilled people, with sales topping $1 million annually. The retailer is well known throughout the New England area for its expertise in high-performance sports cars, starting with the Nissan GTR and Mitsubishi EVO and including Porsche, Subaru and Audi platforms, among
many others.

So what exactly led to Kaizen Tuning’s rapid success? It might partly be the philosophy expressed by the shop name.

“Kaizen means constant improvement,” McIver said. “It’s a Japanese term that’s used in all the automotive manufacturing fields to do small changes, measure the results and, at the end of the day, have better results than one big change.”

Then again, having an upscale clientele of vehicle owners composed of doctors, lawyers and other professionals, many of whom actually relish the performance of their cars on a track, certainly hasn’t hurt either.

“It was an amazing, beautiful blue car,” he said. “The most aggressive car I’ve ever seen in my life.” And when the vehicle became available in the United States, he jumped at the chance to own one and personally dive up to his elbows into its mechanics.

“We really concentrated on the GTR to start and were one of the first companies in the Northeast to do so,” he said. “However, the business just wasn’t sustainable concentrating on one vehicle. We moved out to the Mitsubishi EVO and Subaru platforms and got a great result with both of those cars. We bought one of each and took them apart and put them back together and started testing aftermarket parts on them to see who we wanted to use for product lines. We studied what worked and what didn’t, so when we talked to a customer, we could talk intelligently about recommendations and upgrade packages.

And therein, said McIver, lies the real secret behind Kaizen Tuning’s incredible growth: Beyond the passion, high-end customer service, concentration on a specific niche and constant improvement, it’s the strong relationships he has forged with his suppliers from the very beginning that have made Kaizen Tuning what it is.

“One of the things that makes us stand out over our competitors is how we work very closely with our manufacturers and distributors,” McIver said. “A lot of people use distributors and manufacturers as just a warehouse and someone they can beat up when they need parts cheap. We work hard with them to test and come out with the next thing, identify a market and really attack it. We’ve been very successful with that. Some of the companies we’ve worked closely with include HKS, Motovicity, Turn 14 and a Japanese company called Tomei, which is small but addresses some really specific needs. We get prototype parts, test them, provide feedback and then we get a great product in the end. That makes it hard to compete with us. We have an inherent knowledge of particular products that is unbeatable.”

In fact, McIver takes pride in working alongside with his manufacturers to further their research and development.

“We love doing that because it gets us involved with the grassroots of a product, and that helps us sell,” he said. “When we talk to a customer, we can speak on a level that is much more in-depth and technical, because we have had our hands in the guts of the product. We see what works and what doesn’t work firsthand. Believe me, we’ve had plenty of failures, products that just didn’t work out well.”

“Everything we do is track tested,” McIver said. “We’re on a first-name basis with our manufacturers, all the way down to the base engineers. They have been super appreciative of the feedback. In an engineering group, they sometimes bounce ideas off the wall and don’t get that outside injection of ideas. We think outside the box here, because not only are we a sales organization but we’re also all enthusiasts here. We bring the customer’s ideas to the engineers and they respond to them really well.”

In turn, said McIver, customers react positively to the knowledgeable, hands-on salespeople and technicians that such R&D yields. And, with a full showroom, six bays featuring lifts (including a four-poster with alignment and balancing systems), along with welding and full fabrication, the shop is kept plenty busy. Kaizen Tuning even produces its own in-house line of specialty parts under the Sakura Performance Engineering label.

“We’ve grown very quickly in a short time, and it’s mostly due to our business philosophy,” McIver concluded.

“I recommend that retailers get involved with their manufacturers and distributors on a more intimate basis. It can really help your business and lead to profit. When we work hand in hand with our partners, Kaizen Tuning achieves unparalleled success. It’s been a great ride.”

SEMA News—October 2014

CHRIS KERSTING

The Buzz for the 2014 SEMA Show:
SEMA Ignited

Our industry relies on SEMA to provide a SEMA Show that delivers return on investment. This issue of the magazine is a useful preview of the new Show features that will help your company meet your goals for a successful 2015. Our biggest news: the SEMA Ignited post-Show event that will provide a platform for exhibitors and industry partners to rev up media and consumers with the spectacular collection of innovative products and vehicles gathered only at the SEMA Show.

If you’re not registered to participate in the SEMA Ignited event, now is the time to get in. The event concept is simple. After four days behind closed doors in the Las Vegas Convention Center, visible only to industry professionals, participating cars and trucks from the SEMA Show will roll out on Friday, November 7, to assemble at one of the newest landmarks in the city, the High Roller observation wheel at the LINQ entertainment district. There, from 4:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m., consumers and the media will be able to experience the hottest cars, products and personalities from the SEMA Show and enjoy food and music in a culminating celebration. Participation in the event will be free of charge to SEMA exhibitors, attendees and consumers.

The Friday-night event will also serve as a platform for nationwide media coverage, including on-site taping of a nationally televised broadcast special. The prime-time program, underwritten by SEMA, will deliver the excitement of the industry’s offerings and a new awards competition, the “2014 SEMA Battle of the Builders,” featuring this year’s outstanding SEMA Show vehicles and their designers as they vie for a coveted “Best of Show” trophy.

SEMA is also collaborating with a range of traditional and online media partners to bring the excitement and offerings of the SEMA Show exhibitors to worldwide audiences.

We think that the SEMA Ignited event has the potential to capture media attention and stoke consumer awareness by providing a special “action” platform that highlights the impressive vehicles, products and personalities already in Las Vegas for the Show. Interested? Just e-mail info@SEMAignited.com, and we’ll be happy to discuss ways to make SEMA Ignited work for your business.

—Chris Kersting, SEMA President and CEO

SEMA News—October 2014

CHRIS KERSTING

The Buzz for the 2014 SEMA Show:
SEMA Ignited

Our industry relies on SEMA to provide a SEMA Show that delivers return on investment. This issue of the magazine is a useful preview of the new Show features that will help your company meet your goals for a successful 2015. Our biggest news: the SEMA Ignited post-Show event that will provide a platform for exhibitors and industry partners to rev up media and consumers with the spectacular collection of innovative products and vehicles gathered only at the SEMA Show.

If you’re not registered to participate in the SEMA Ignited event, now is the time to get in. The event concept is simple. After four days behind closed doors in the Las Vegas Convention Center, visible only to industry professionals, participating cars and trucks from the SEMA Show will roll out on Friday, November 7, to assemble at one of the newest landmarks in the city, the High Roller observation wheel at the LINQ entertainment district. There, from 4:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m., consumers and the media will be able to experience the hottest cars, products and personalities from the SEMA Show and enjoy food and music in a culminating celebration. Participation in the event will be free of charge to SEMA exhibitors, attendees and consumers.

The Friday-night event will also serve as a platform for nationwide media coverage, including on-site taping of a nationally televised broadcast special. The prime-time program, underwritten by SEMA, will deliver the excitement of the industry’s offerings and a new awards competition, the “2014 SEMA Battle of the Builders,” featuring this year’s outstanding SEMA Show vehicles and their designers as they vie for a coveted “Best of Show” trophy.

SEMA is also collaborating with a range of traditional and online media partners to bring the excitement and offerings of the SEMA Show exhibitors to worldwide audiences.

We think that the SEMA Ignited event has the potential to capture media attention and stoke consumer awareness by providing a special “action” platform that highlights the impressive vehicles, products and personalities already in Las Vegas for the Show. Interested? Just e-mail info@SEMAignited.com, and we’ll be happy to discuss ways to make SEMA Ignited work for your business.

—Chris Kersting, SEMA President and CEO

SEMA News—October 2014

CHRIS KERSTING

The Buzz for the 2014 SEMA Show:
SEMA Ignited

Our industry relies on SEMA to provide a SEMA Show that delivers return on investment. This issue of the magazine is a useful preview of the new Show features that will help your company meet your goals for a successful 2015. Our biggest news: the SEMA Ignited post-Show event that will provide a platform for exhibitors and industry partners to rev up media and consumers with the spectacular collection of innovative products and vehicles gathered only at the SEMA Show.

If you’re not registered to participate in the SEMA Ignited event, now is the time to get in. The event concept is simple. After four days behind closed doors in the Las Vegas Convention Center, visible only to industry professionals, participating cars and trucks from the SEMA Show will roll out on Friday, November 7, to assemble at one of the newest landmarks in the city, the High Roller observation wheel at the LINQ entertainment district. There, from 4:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m., consumers and the media will be able to experience the hottest cars, products and personalities from the SEMA Show and enjoy food and music in a culminating celebration. Participation in the event will be free of charge to SEMA exhibitors, attendees and consumers.

The Friday-night event will also serve as a platform for nationwide media coverage, including on-site taping of a nationally televised broadcast special. The prime-time program, underwritten by SEMA, will deliver the excitement of the industry’s offerings and a new awards competition, the “2014 SEMA Battle of the Builders,” featuring this year’s outstanding SEMA Show vehicles and their designers as they vie for a coveted “Best of Show” trophy.

SEMA is also collaborating with a range of traditional and online media partners to bring the excitement and offerings of the SEMA Show exhibitors to worldwide audiences.

We think that the SEMA Ignited event has the potential to capture media attention and stoke consumer awareness by providing a special “action” platform that highlights the impressive vehicles, products and personalities already in Las Vegas for the Show. Interested? Just e-mail info@SEMAignited.com, and we’ll be happy to discuss ways to make SEMA Ignited work for your business.

—Chris Kersting, SEMA President and CEO