hi i have been studying the ins and outs of the locost to a point where i think i can make some money out off it.

i have been thinking of starting to build locost chassis as a buisiness first to see if there will be much demand for them.

does anyone think there is a high demand for chassis?

Any views on starting up a buisness will be much appreciated?

You would be up against some fearsome competition, MK, Doz, Luego, Stuart Taylor, Avon to mention a few. I think another supplier would have to produce something pretty good and have a feature or design that the others have not explored to succeed.

ditto marks comments, as you start with no reputation the chassii have to be either awesome quality or dirt cheap. very competetive market.

the best approach would be to offer a unique product, rather than 'another 7 clone'.

Agreed - a number of quite decent suppliers have failed to break into the market (e.g. Triton) even though their products were often very good.

MK got where he is now by building a good reputation for high quality over a long period (and by working his nuts off on his ownsome for exceptionally long hours). Stuart Taylor did it by very good marketing skills, as much as by their products. Robin Hood (whatever you think of them) have got where they are now by massive investment in CNC machinery, so that they can produce a product very cheaply, to compete against the hand-built stuff.

If you don't have a reputation yet, and maybe don't yet have the marketing/business skills (like Mr Champion - allegedly) then I suggest that you start small, with minimum up-front investment and work up.

Not trying to put a new man down - but you have to have an exceptionally good product and be brutally in control of your business to survive out there.

cheers (and best wishes, in spite of what I've said!)

David

[Edited on 30/12/03 by David Jenkins]

Hi Rich

I'll agree with what has been written so far and add a couple of points.

I see two areas where business opportunities might exist.

1) As a "service provider" -- more people want Locosts than have the time or skills to complete cars, if you were able to build and sell turn-key cars using the proven components of others I think you could make a decent living. Similarly, a mobile engineering service, travelling to Locoster's in order to help them overcome specific obstacles might be a welcome service.

2) In America. The demand for sports cars is high here (I'm actually in Canada but I speak primarily of the large US market). If you were to spend some time developing distributor relationships on this side of the pond (specialist car dealers are a good place to start) you could probably find a ready market for part-built or knock-down cars. Superformance and Caterham both sell for stupid money over here using this model.

Cheers, Ted

how come when i opened this topic i was warped into an edit post screen for marks reply?
i could have done something very evil, good job i have self control



Russ.

i tried editing yours, it wouldnt let me...

ah well, worth a try!

I also agree with the above comments

I had thought on similar lines a couple of years ago, but luckiley for me i was disuaded by an accountant, and a friend who is self employed, and works 20 hours a day, yet never has any money !!!

If I was going to get into this field, I would not build a seven as apart from the obvious ones "robin hood, tiger. westies, etc etc, there are numerous good ones from all over the world, that will allways be a more attractive way of building a car, as they will have a good backup of spares and availability, MK has done this, and offers a very good package, and value for money, but is it profitable?? who will know
only him, but I bet some days he thinks is it all worth it

From what i was told by someone at MK when i was picking up my chassis, Martin is doing very well for him self, if you look at their waiting lists and do the sums you can see how.

'the lazerman' posted a really good idea that he didnt seem to exploit

it was a fabricated sheet 'front end' to the locost chassis, complete with suspension points. you just welded it to the chassis rails coming forwards from the cockpit.

gets rid of all the dificlut stuff at the front and eliminates suspension errors.

dunno if he ever sold it tho....

search for his posts - there may be a piccky in one


atb

steve

The idea of hiring out as an independent assembler is a good one, to get your foot in the door. This could be built up to include machine shop, paint and trim, and exhaust fabrication, much like a hot rod shop in the US. Even from the beginning, you could act as an agent for the purchase of kits from the manufacturers (actually placing the orders on your customer's behalf). That kind of exposure would doubtless lead to more opportunities; dealerships or whatever.

Another possibility would be rehabilitating bodged kit builds and reselling them.

I think the coming thing in kit cars is a composite tub-type chassis with bolt-on front and rear tubular sub-chassis, to be fitted with running gear from FWD cars, with maybe a couple of body shells. I gather that the composites business is so new that nobody's really an expert yet.

Late to the party as usual, but I would side with most of the above.
Gusty's point is a very valid one. A large percentage of the posts here relate to front end woes. If you ignored the book dimensions (I can't believe for a minute that the front suspension is the only area Mr. C got right), and design a really good front end, then fabricate and sell a complete and accurate front suspension/steering clip. This could then be simply welded to the book chassis members, and in fact, could actually form part of a jig system for the chassis.
The design would be quite simple, and laser cut sheet metal work is relatively cheap, light weight and accurate.
All in all, suspension components seem to be the Locoster's bug bear. Doz has recently had a crack at the rear end (de Dion), but there may be room there for further providers. I think Doz's business as a provider of ancilliaries is a good model.

quote:

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Originally posted by pbura
Another possibility would be rehabilitating bodged kit builds and reselling them.

---

quote:

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Originally posted by stephen_gusterson
'the lazerman' posted a really good idea that he didnt seem to exploit

it was a fabricated sheet 'front end' to the locost chassis, complete with suspension points. you just welded it to the chassis rails coming forwards from the cockpit.

gets rid of all the dificlut stuff at the front and eliminates suspension errors.

dunno if he ever sold it tho....

search for his posts - there may be a piccky in one


atb

steve

---

The points i would like to make are that in my experience people like to buy everything from one source, to save on hassle and carriage. For me i have seen numbers of orders taken rise in proportion to the number of products i offer. The big down side to this is the massive investment required to do it. Over the 5 years that i have gently build up my business in real terms its probably cost me 20k and launching the kit last month has mean't an even bigger and ongoing investment. I reckon before February i'll have invested another 5+k.

All this gives me a return thats about a 5th of what i need to earn to live off. And thats not employing anyone to help. What you hope is that you build the business up slowly over time and at some stage it will provide a living.

Saying that though there seems to be no shortage in demand for 7 type cars. In the 4 weeks since the show we have had 3 orders for kits, about 6 or so orders for de dion axle assemblies and wishbones, and 40 (yes 40) enquiries for fully assembled cars. Thats pretty staggering interest when you consider that GTS isn't anything like as well known as the competition and my advertising is limited to the web alone. So imagine how much interest the big boys get, i was told MK sell a kit per day, with my overheads i would make a nice living on that, but, Martin by the sounds of things make enough but works bloody hard to get it. Not sure slaving ones guts out to to do OK, is what lifes about.

Kind regards,

Darren

It seems to me that the finished article is more wanted than the DIY kit then,maybe everyone asks the built pirce as well as the kit price.
Maybe this is the area of business that needs to be looked at,i think it was mentioned earlier building a kit supplied by manufacturer for customer.

I'll be looking for weather gear and screen next year,not many adverts in this area so food for thought there.

seems the pic isnt there

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=1318

business protection ?

atb

steve

The only market oportunity I have seen is for a chassis kit.

If you speak to anyone about the building of their chassis then it is the cutting that is the biggest pain in the butt.

I think that if you could tool up for an acurate kit of tubes. Mark each one as per the book and then let people purchase a "chassis kit" that they weld up themselves.

I'm sure that at the time I would have paid about £200.00 for this option instead of the £70.00 or so I paid for the steel alone.

Just my opinion of course.

that would be like wardrobes from mfi with bells on!

not nice

atb

steve

I think Luego already offer the option of a kit of pre-cut tubes, either for a book locost or for their own chassis.