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Apexi News


Nic
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Talking to the owner of the tuners I use today, apparently Apexi have discontinued their range of engine tuning parts and in future will concentrate on their electronics and other ranges.

 

I was told that their sales had been poor recently and they could no longer compete with HKS in Japan. I guess there will still be some stock around for a while, but if there is anything specific anyone is wanting probably best to source sooner rather than later.

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the apexi induction kit is probably one of the best filters for power gains and filtration for cars with restrictive air boxes - which the supra hasnt got :)

Yes, if only i could find the URL of that test to proove it too.

 

So no exhausts, induction kits or nothing? :cry:

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What they forget to mention is that the modest 'gains' are neither from the 'improved' airflow, nor from the 'improved' filtration.

They are from the elimination of the airbox, which naturally creates a small pressure drop.

 

Driving around in the summer with the turbos hot as hell and the underbonnet temps over 50C is the reason you want the airbox. But the 'power tests' are done in different conditions, avoiding heatsoak, sometimes even with the bonnet wide open. ;)

 

What next? Hire a couple of slaves to fan the engine bay from above? :woot:

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What they forget to mention is that the modest 'gains' are neither from the 'improved' airflow, nor from the 'improved' filtration.

They are from the elimination of the airbox, which naturally creates a small pressure drop.

 

Driving around in the summer with the turbos hot as hell and the underbonnet temps over 50C is the reason you want the airbox. But the 'power tests' are done in different conditions, avoiding heatsoak, sometimes even with the bonnet wide open. ;)

 

What next? Hire a couple of slaves to fan the engine bay from above? :woot:

Which is why you get cold air ducting and box off the filter :rolleyes:

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Which is why you get cold air ducting and box off the filter :rolleyes:

 

With the airbox the engine is forced to suck from the cool regions, otherwise it sucks from wherever the filter element is (in a very hot bay usually)

The ducting is not worth much if there is no sealed enclosure forcing the air to be sucked from where you want it to. If the ducting is 'loose' then it just redirects small amounts of cool airflow towards the cone, so that it mixes with the hot air that's already there. Not much contribution.

 

Get a temp probe from Maplin and set it up at various locations in the bay, and watch it while driving around, you'll see the light. :)

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I remember reading a thread a long time ago where an old member (Justin F) had drilled through the inner wing and extended the piping so the pod filter was located inside the wing, with a cold air feed pipe going down near stock IC location. Piping would need to be sealed around the hole in wing (as you mention John) provided you use a quality filter and the filter wasn't exposed to the elements this could may be worth trying. Would be interesting to see someone try this and do some testing.

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I thought this was a thread about Apex'i stopping production...not a pod filter thread!!!!!!

 

:hijack:

 

Okay back on topic what Apexi engine performance parts are any good that will be missed, exhaust, filter....??

ot.gif

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the ap engineering site has closed down as well, shame 'cos it was a great resource (which i have selected pages archived in english).

 

are they stopping doing all the footwork stuff as well?

 

Yes I was told they would just be concentrating on their electronics range which is apparently successful for them.

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I wanted one of their cast iron Rb25 / RB26 Skyline turbo manifolds! *ugger!

 

Still trying for you Chris, it was holiday all last week in Japan so things are a bit slow at the moment whilst they catch up. Next time I'm nearby, I'll go visit the Apexi main dealer here again and see if he has got anywhere.

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This might be an indicator of a downturn in the 'add on' market for automotive products.

Cue in impeding EU regulations banning certain modifications of vehicles, general economic climate, etc...

 

Possibly, but the reason I was given was because of HKS' dominance in the Japanese market.

 

I also had a chat about the growing Chinese tuning market with the owner of the HKS dealership. He was saying how the Chinese market had absolutely exploded and how busy they were supplying traders there. It is extremely difficult to import goods into China, due to the bureaucracy so parts are being sourced from HK and taken into China by the back door across the border in cars. Given the potential size of the Chinese market on their doorstep, I'm not sure if there will be a downturn globally, instead the markets may move from western countries to developing countries such as China, India, etc

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... instead the markets may move from western countries to developing countries such as China, India, etc

 

I've been following this for a long time now, lots of management consultancies have made money from such studies over the years.

 

You know, the 'sleeping giant' this, the 'untapped potential of millions of bright young graduates' there, blah blah...

Reality is a different matter though, there's usually a list of good reasons these markets have not materialised in the past.

 

Just because lots of people make money out of backing a 'flavour of the month' doesn't make it real. Self-fulfilling prophecies don't happen every day.

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I've been following this for a long time now, lots of management consultancies have made money from such studies over the years.

 

You know, the 'sleeping giant' this, the 'untapped potential of millions of bright young graduates' there, blah blah...

Reality is a different matter though, there's usually a list of good reasons these markets have not materialised in the past.

 

Just because lots of people make money out of backing a 'flavour of the month' doesn't make it real. Self-fulfilling prophecies don't happen every day.

 

I would totally disagree, I have been travelling regularly into China for over 9 years and you can almost see the developmental change everytime you go. China is the manufacturing super power of the world at the moment and this is generating massive growth. Yes this wealth is being made by a small percentage of the population but even a small percentage of 1.1billion people is a potentially massive market for a brand to aim for.

 

As an example the vehicle market will grow hugely over the coming years, when I first started going to China the majority of the people were riding bicycles, this has quickly changed to people being able to afford motorcyles and now you can see the growth in vehicle ownership, a minute percentage of the population will own either a motobike of car at the moment but this will change very quickly over the coming years.

 

As another example, most Chinese people never had a telephone in their house, yet now EVERYONE has a mobile phone, they have gone from nothing, to owning an up to date mobile phone, same case with tapes, videos, tv etc they have gone from not owning a tv, tape recorder, to owning DVD players and flat screens.

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In comparison most of the Western markets are either saturated or shrinking, look at how mobile phone and PC growth has slowed down. This is why big brands are targetting these emerging economies because that is where the untapped growth is going to come from.

 

Mass market brands, not manufacturing in the far east (India or Eastern Europe) and looking at getting into these markets will get a big shock when they suddenly realise they are no longer competitive and their market has disappeared. Not a happy prospect, but that is just what is happening and the speed in which it is happening is frightening.

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Well China is slowly picking up as a vast market, although not exactly in the way that the western economies would like it (i.e. not keen to pay for 1.1 billion of copies of Windows, for example)

 

The dream of the 'other' mega economic giant is going back to where it was a few decades ago, and looks like it's gonna stay there.

 

This really is off-topic

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