Tag: History

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CARB CERTIFIED. YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT. I SAID IT.

I have been one of the Product Development Engineers here at CorkSport for roughly nine months. During that time, I have helped complete projects that were already in the works before I was here, completed projects on my own, and have started projects that are still in the development process. One project that I have been working on (other than physical part development) since I started here has been getting some of our parts California Air Resource Board (CARB) approved. After nine long months, I can now check that off my to-do list (at least for a few of our parts).

Our 2010-up Mazdaspeed 3 Short Ram Intake (SRI), 2007-2009 Mazdaspeed 3 SRI, 2006-2007 Mazdaspeed 6 SRI, and our 2007-up CX-7 SRI will now be CARB certified. This is the full intake kit that consists of the filter, MAF housing, silicone couplers, and turbo inlet pipe (TIP) as shown in the picture below. In the next few weeks we will be receiving a legal Executive Order (EO) number assigned to these intake packages. That EO number will be affixed to the intake system which will designate it as CARB approved (50-state legal).

If you already have our intake system for one of these vehicles, DO NOT WORRY! No, we can’t legally send you a sticker to put on your intake, but when you go in to the smog check station, they will look up our intake and verify that you have the same intake system on your vehicle.

The process of getting a performance part CARB certified is lengthy and time consuming, but we feel that making parts that are legal in all 50 states is very important.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

– Jake

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Remember When…

I have had quite a few “I remember you” moments this year. What I have noticed is that customers from back in the MX-3 heydays have been calling up and picking up parts for their newer Mazdas. Most of the cars have been Mazdaspeed 3s or Mazdaspeed 6s but there have been some RX-8 owners in there too. When I say back in the MX-3 heydays I mean 1998-2001, the early years of CorkSport. This was when the import market really was taking off. Back when drag racing imports seemed to be the trendy thing to do with your car.

It is fun to spend some time chatting about old events like the MxWest meets in B.C. or meeting up with customers at the import drag races in Oregon and California when people call or email.

It really makes my day to see a note on an order saying “long time customer” in the order referral field or getting a phone call from someone I haven’t spoken to for over 6 years who has questions about some of our new parts. I have a pretty good memory so if has been a while since you have called or ordered feel free to mention it. There is a good chance I will remember you.

– Derrick

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Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner

I was reading an article about GM’s so called recovery and the author made the quote in regards to Mazda. “Mazda makes interesting, fun-to-drive cars, including the Miata roadster and the sporty Mazda 3 compact. But the company lacks marketing clout and a strong dealer network, so its U.S. market share has been stuck between 2% and 3% forever”

Some of the quote is true; Mazda has not been able to increase their market share beyond the 2-3% in North America. However, I disagree with the marketing clout statement though being the factor. BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, and Subaru, and Volkswagen all have lower market shares than Mazda. All of these car companies spend as much, if not more than Mazda on marketing. Mazda has been treading a different path compared to other brands, and lets the strength of their model lineup do the selling for them instead of wasting millions of dollars on overblown marketing campaigns. Don’t get me wrong, Mazda’s goal is to sell cars and make money like any other business, but Mazda makes fun to drive vehicles and thus markets themselves differently. Mazda speaks in their advertising to being sporty, fun to drive, and economical, which targets a younger demographic.

Look at the Mazda 3 for example, it is a great car, fun to drive, (arguably) great styling. The average age of a Mazda customer is 42 years old, which might not seem young, but is significant in terms of people purchasing new cars. Mazda’s marketing to younger demographics takes them in different directions from other brands like GM. Mazda is very active with their marketing on Facebook and more recently YouTube. If you want to see a good example showing the difference between Mazda and General Motors marketing look on each of their Facebook pages.

So Mazda doesn’t pump millions of dollars into television advertising like other auto manufacturers. Mazda chooses to sponsor enthusiast events like Hot Import Nights and supports weekend racers with their Mazdaspeed Motorsports program. There are television adds but they are nowhere as numerous as other manufacturers.

Is it bad to be different? Not at all in my opinion, Mazda chooses to market themselves differently from the other manufacturers. I am sure the other 2-3% of the market who has purchased a Mazda agrees with me. Mazda has marketing clout, just not where the author of the quote looks.

– Derrick

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90 Years Young

90 years is quite a time span in human lives. The average life span is 67 years in the world today. Mazda (Toyo Kogyo) will be celebrating 90 years in 2010. We can thank Jujiro Matsuda for getting the company going in 1920 which led to the manufacturer of the cars we all love to drive. So for the 90 anniversary what is Mazda up to? I myself was hoping for something crazy to show up but it looks like there is just going to be a few special edition models available in Japan.

There will be a special “Gunmetal Blue Mica” version of the Mazda 3 (Axela in Japan) equipped with the 2.0 DI engine and I-Stop is available.

So far there are no plans for the 90th Anniversary Mazda 3 to make it to North America but that could change if we protest enough.

Mazda also has plans for a 90th Anniversary version of the Biante. A Biante is a compact minivan in the Japanese market. It will be available with the same 2.0 DI engine and I-Stop as well. I have not been a fan of the Biante styling myself but for its size you can haul 6 people comfortably and some cargo. Think of it as a different looking Mazda 3.

Who knows maybe Mazda will surprise us this year with a new rotary powered machine for the 90th anniversary. So far it has been quiet from my contacts in Japan but you never know. Mazda could be keeping a surprise on the down low.

– Derrick

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Goodbye 323 GTX

Goodbye 323 GTX. Goodbye Cusco, GT Spec, Pedders, Autometer, Injen, Knightsports, KVR, RE-Amemiya, Mazdaspeed, and about 50 other product lines.

You may have noticed a recent news post announcing we are phasing out Mazda 323 GTX Parts. The 1988-89 GTX (in USA) was a great car for its time. Many owners have maintained and upgraded their cars to the point they are more powerful and better handling than some of the newest cars. A remarkable testament to the car considering it is over 20 years old!

Unfortunately, there just aren’t enough of them left on the road to justify further development and support. Sales have steadily declined for this car for many years. Ultimately, I think the recession was the last straw for us. Very limited inventory remains and we plan to remove this car from our catalog by the end of the year. To answer the most common question we’ve received since the official announcement last week: “Yes, a few parts will likely end up in our clearance sale”. To reflect on the most common comment we’ve received so far, “You Suck”; it is regrettable, truly. We don’t like it either, but it was ultimately our customers that made the decision for us.

We are also phasing out many product lines, as I mentioned earlier. Border, RE-Amemiya, Mazdaspeed, Knightsports, and FEED are venerable Japanese brands. They have always been slow movers for us, have long lead times for our customers, and sales volumes don’t support keeping parts in inventory. Japanese quality is exceptional, truly, and if you have the taste (and wallet) for these parts we are confident you’ll find a way to get them.

Brands like Injen, Centerforce, KVR, NGK, Unichip, Koyo, and Greddy have many products that are redundant to our own catalog. We are committed to making CorkSport parts the best value on the market but we don’t make everything. We’ve selected a few partners to fill out our product line. The remainders are being dropped from our catalog.

We’ll be launching a new approach to business early next year that builds upon our reputation for high quality parts at an excellent value and supported by the best customer service in the industry. This plan requires a commitment we cannot maintain while serving sales of other brand names. When you think “CS” will you think ‘customer service’ (pardon the lame humor)? We hope so.

There are no gimmicks here. We don’t trademark some odd spelling of a performance sounding words to trick you into believing your getting technology that is different from everything else out there. You are smart enough to recognize that sort of marketing. We could try gimmicks like free shipping but that means we inflate our prices to cover the cost (and thus it is not free to you) or we erode profits and have less opportunity to use them to serve you better. Better to know what you are paying for in my opinion.

Our goal is value. Price, quality, support before/during/after the sale, shipping, packaging, and warranty all go into the value equation. We are focusing our product line in order to offer better value to our customers through improved customer service and support.

Please send us your feedback. We promise to read and consider all of it.

– Rich