Speed UTV

Sand Shark said:
A hard hit on the nose has taken out some Can Am radiators.  The plastic top mount is not the greatest of ideas.   Bumper helps eliminate the issue by and large.  
Click to expand...
Does the bumper come from the factory as standard equipment?

 
Twisted said:
I couldn’t agree with you more, isn’t this the American dream these days to get bought out and keep collecting.  Also this allows RG to save face with possible cash flow and shipping issues. ( if any) 
Click to expand...
I disagree with your assessment. For 99.99% of people in this world, you are right - it's the American dream to cash out and enjoy the good life. However, RG is the other .01% who is doing this to prove it can be done better than the other UTV mfrs (Polaris specifically) and run the company like an off road driver/enthusiast and make the decisions based on best practices, not by a committee of accountants who decide to shave a dollar here and 20 cents there and cut so many corners that the product that started out as a box ends up looking like a soccer ball, or a Pro R.

This is a passion play for him and he's enjoying building a better mousetrap, embarrassing the other UTV companies with their 200 layers of worthless executives and bean counters and making a few bucks in the process. Could he make tons more money selling out? Absolutely! However, he's stated many times that Polaris bean counters over rode him and made final decisions, so this time his name was going to be on the bottom line on this design and he was going to build it the way he knows it should be built.

I don't know everything, but I understand enough to realize the wisdom and engineering behind all of his decisions and that's why I laugh at guys who never rode in a trophy truck much less designed one, claiming that RG is wrong and they know more about suspension geometry and design than he does.

:lmao:  

 
CampfiresNbrews said:
@Rockwood I just looked back at what @tjZ06 had posted and there it was, delivery expected November-December 2020. I don’t remember if that was for the original 250-500 cars and they never revised it.? So I can see the confusion. 🤙🏽View attachment 44268
Click to expand...
Ya bro this is where all of the hazing began. Big promises made and still none produced. Most of this thread wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t predicted delivery times over and again. 

 
1HasBeen said:
I hope it comes to pass. Nobody would take more pleasure in watching RG rub Polarass's nose in it than me. But, to date, I don't see where he has embarrassed any competitor.
Click to expand...
Have you SEEN the Pro R chassis?? It's got more dead tubes in it than a large cemetery!

Shock Therapy has a ton of suspension upgrade parts and the list is growing by the day. Even with everyone having a social media account, I've never seen anyone proudly post or tweet that they helped design a Polaris chassis or suspension. They're too embarrassed to admit it!

 
images


 
Last edited by a moderator:
stonehenge said:
Nice write up.  One reads this and makes you realize robby's utv will become the highest costing sxs very soon.  Regardless of the economy, these cars will cost way over 45 for just the base.  And at dealerships  they will be way over 50 day two.   Wouldn't be surprised if they cost close to 100 with options at the dealership.  Too much car for 32, waaaaay to much car for 32.  And the 2024 500hp, well that will start at 65'ish, maybe more.  But its only money, and the public can finance it.  
Click to expand...
I have to agree the car is a bargain when you consider the sum of the parts. Never mind the start costs (fixtures, jigs, molds etc.)  Some of that his partners "help" pay for based on volume, but mostly in a standard production environment that is amortized over a couple production runs, so it still costs you money to produce the cars.  what I mean is that say the transmission would normally cost $5k (just a number)  and the company producing it paid for the molds and fixtures and even some R&D,  no upfront $$  which could easily be $1M - $5M or more  (ask Weddle what it cost them to "update the Mendeols stuff".  That "payback" comes out of each car, so for the first say 1000 cars the company amortizes the $1M  (thats 1M/1000 on each car) that would mean each transmission instead of 5000  costs RG 6000, I am sure the numbers on both counts is higher, and thats on A lot of parts, so making $$ on the first or second  100 cars and Not losing huge amounts of cash is not likely.

Even with price increases I cannot see how RG pays for the production run of cars he has already taken deposits on.   He is likely throwing 10K or more into every car he delivers on every car he sold under 40K.  Cars and UTV's are low margin products - no one is making 50% on these or even 30% as a manufacturer, especially if he is selling through the dealer they take their cut, and you have build 1200 of something when you product 1000 so you can stock spares at dealers and they usually don't pay for warranty parts those are consigned. even if just keep them in your WH you paid for them and then have shipping costs to deal with when  Dealer needs one.

I hope his financing is good and he has a huge line of credit.   Add this that bad luck of inflation, that Money is no longer cheap, feds are raising rates weekly, interest compounds, and the more people paying cash for the cars, the worse it is for him, because its likely he like other UTV makes and Dealers get a percentage of the financing either upfront or yearly on top of being paid the financed amount upfront.  Cash buyeras actually hurt his bottomline, and SPEED  early adopters are likely cash buyers were Canned Ham and PoleLarrys  are people with 590 credit score (Not GD people) and they pay 18% intewreast over 120 months, thats an easy 5-7K fee he would get

------

I am sensitive to this because I got burnt some years ago by DROUIN.  Not as bad as the "he who shall not be named builder that does shocks now" but pretty bad ...

Drouin was a competitor to Vortech.

A well known racer and car builder on the east Coast, He worked for Magnuson  and Edelbrock and he was the best SC guy around. He did a bunch of Motorcycle Superchargers and he was like RG very proud and likable.

 The Drouin SC prototypes were on about 20 5.0 Mustangs and they made 2x the power of the Vortech over a wide powerband. If you drove a DROUIN powered Mustang you were impressed - that was guaranteed, and every prototype was supeer clean and nice. He patented SC wheel tech and had a great inline intercooler. He had a big building, about 50 employees, all kinds of machinery and basically a nice factory.  Like the 2500 people that ordered them day one, I put down 25%  and right away got a letter from Drouin saying he was just waiting for EPA ... then 3 months later he said he had cost over runs and would keep our price, he just needed a bit more time, just send 25% more,  so we all did, then we got and the SC mounts that were beautiful castings in the mail and the billet lower pulley,  and every 3 months we got letter apologizing for late delivery with a billet key fob. All along the way he was doing new brochures, bringing the Proto's to the races. He did "run what you brung" races at his local track  against Procharger, vortech and Paxton cars  and shut all of them down - great videos (before You tube)

he used to send us videos and brochures and he was a contributor to fast fords magazine.

After about 18 months total .. we got a hand signed letter "he was delivering in 2 weeks" - pay in full and you will be one of the first 100.  I did not pay, but like everyone I got a "sorry letter" 3 months later saying he decided the cost of manufacturing was higher than he charged for the systems, and his backers pulled out and he filed for BK. 

Not saying thats a Parallel to Speed, but best intentions and money live in different worlds.  The new Pro R is not 1/2 the car the Speed is IMO and they are over 50K for the ultimate, and represent ZERO start up costs for Polaris ....

and  just because Spped is one man's dream and the engineering is good and people follow him, does not mean he will make it 
 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lord of the Dunes said:
Have you SEEN the Pro R chassis?? It's got more dead tubes in it than a large cemetery!

Shock Therapy has a ton of suspension upgrade parts and the list is growing by the day. Even with everyone having a social media account, I've never seen anyone proudly post or tweet that they helped design a Polaris chassis or suspension. They're too embarrassed to admit it!
Click to expand...
I didn't say the Speed is not a better design, and I DID say I hope he rubs their nose in it, but what we think ought to happen has not yet happened. Savvy that? Meanwhile, Polarass is not the least bit embarassed to sell every recall prone bundle of dead tubes they can cobble together, and are laughing all the way to the bank.

 
1HasBeen said:
I didn't say the Speed is not a better design, and I DID say I hope he rubs their nose in it, but what we think ought to happen has not yet happened. Savvy that? Meanwhile, Polarass is not the least bit embarassed to sell every recall prone bundle of dead tubes they can cobble together, and are laughing all the way to the bank.
Click to expand...
You're right. They don't care it's a bundle of compromises, they're selling as many as they can build. I can't relate to that mentality, but it works for them.

 
#433

Robby said I should have mine to drive away from my wedding in March.

If not, he will lend me one! Neat!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Rockwood said:
Maybe you’re on to something. Trump and Robby have a lot more in common than I originally thought. 
Click to expand...
Great hair, for one!

successful energy drink brand? Nah

successful nascar driver? Nah

successful owner of a global racing series? Nah

successful tool brand? Nah

owns an RC car company? Nah

kept his first wife? Nah.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
PoPo grossed 25.5% last year, up 1.12% over the previous year. 

But, for making things cheap, Polaris is gonna be hard to beat. Assuming everything goes to plan and there aren’t major reliability hiccups, at a 5-10% margin (healthy enough to prop up a future sale), yeah, he should make that back quickly enough at FRP. 

If there are recalls, reliability issues, or other large liabilities during that time, it can go downhill quickly. The work’s been done, now it’s time for Robby to see how the dice land. Touchy time for a consumer product company, but if all goes well, the numbers are good enough to pull through enough to recoup the initial investment. Only one thing for him to do right now:

image.gif

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top