Quote:
Originally posted by Kputz
It's times like this when I realize how truly I miss Meat. If only to regularly see a messenger shot. Can one only imagine the apoplexy with the SAAC crowd if FFR did put together a buy out of SAI which came with the rights to call the thing a Shelby? The book would contain more asterisks than the Milky Way. Pretentiousness has it's risks.
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Like I said I don’t know the history behind SAI and if they were trying to compete with Factory 5 or not. If they weren’t and wanted to remain small like the other specialized replica companies, then I cannot understand why they could not turn a profit? After all these years, they couldn’t figure out how to control the costs and market their product right?
Did they rely more on the name to sell it than good old-fashioned business smarts and marketing? I finally saw a recent ad in a kit car mag. UMMMMMM why so long to figure out that their customer base is within the “replica” industry? Think about what Shelby did. He in essence went after the people that loved him. I guess he saw the glass as half empty, rather than half full. Was pride a factor for some of these marketing reps for SAI? They can call it whatever they want, continuation or whatever but when you position yourself as an adversarial party against your fans nothing good comes out of that. Perhaps with new management at SAI, they will get a better perspective and attitude and conduct themselves in a more supporting or embracing of the people in the replica scene. Perhaps they will start listening to people like us on this Forum. Perhaps they will learn the rules when it comes to a buyer’s market. Factory 5 proved that they could produce a quality product for much less. There is no reason why SAI could not be on top or anybody else that wishes to be more customer oriented and business savvy.
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Seems SAI never had a clear vision as to where they wanted to go. That being said, Factory 5 does not need to buy SAI. SAI will die on its own or barely exist from
year to
year if they continue the same as the past. There is nothing wrong with existing
year to
year but if you want to play with the big dogs then you have to create your own rules and be successful or play by your competition’s rules and beat them at their own game. Presently SAI is 0-1 against Factory 5 after having to walk away from the lawsuit. I sincerely hope somebody has stepped in and stopped the Superformance suit. Nothing more dangerous or costly to a company than a person in charge with an ego and little brains.
So the question shouldn’t be is Factory 5 going to buy SAI, it should be will SAI be able to regroup and compete in business like Shelby did on the track back in the 60’s?
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