Fast & Furious $72.5M Opening Weekend Ignites Automotive Industry

With Fast & Furious opening at No. 1 in its first weekend and bringing in $72.5 million in ticket sales, the automotive industry is buzzing with the anticipation that this fourth installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise will translate into the same big-dollar specialty-equipment sales that was ignited by the first movie. 

The Fast and the Furious, which grossed more than $40 million in its first weekend, was the first installment of the racing series and was released in June 2001. In 2001, sales for compact-performance products totaled $2.86 billion, according to SEMA research. In 2002, total sales for the year equaled $3 billion. 

Greg Neuwirth, President of AEM, a Hawthorne, California-based manufacturer of performance and racing products, recalls the increase in business that occurred the year following the release of the first movie. “There was a 25% jump in our sales,” he said. “The bump was enormous, and it was across the board.” 

Jonathan Wong, editor of Super Street magazine, also recognizes the impact The Fast and the Furious had on the specialty-equipment industry. “We’re all hoping that this latest movie will have the same impact as the first movie did, which got more of mainstream America interested in modifying their cars,” he said. 

Not only did Simi Valley, California-based Turbonetics Inc., a manufacturer of performance products, experience a definite boost in sales after the first film, the company saw enough potential in the latest release to invest a considerable amount of time and money to be featured in it. The result is the Turbonetics logo prominently displayed on the front of lead character Paul Walker’s blue Nissan Skyline. 

Tyler Tanaka, marketing manager of Turbonetics, realizes that he cannot predict whether Fast & Furious will produce the same consumer interest in specialty-equipment products that The Fast and the Furious did, but he is satisfied just to have people inspired by car culture. “I think what’s most important is that people are talking about cars and talking about fixing cars,” he said. “It’s a positive and healthy thing for a movie about cars to pull in more than $72.5 million its opening weekend and for people to get excited about it. It’s definitely helpful for the industry.” 

Neuwirth also agrees that the hype being generated by the movie can only lead to good things for the specialty-equipment industry. “Any enthusiasm that is built around cars, whether it’s tuning cars or adding to cars, can’t help but have a positive impact on our market.” 

While Wong is uncertain whether the current economic situation will allow modification to be as affordable a luxury as it was when the first movie came out, with a $72.5 million opening weekend, he agrees that it is a definite possibility. 

At the very least, with Fast & Furious having the highest-grossing opening for a car-themed movie, (even beating Cars’ $60.1 million, according to www.boxofficemojo.com), the specialty-equipment industry can boast that Americans do, and always will love cars, especially fast, good-looking, modified cars.

Kiwi MPG First Review!

We got our first sample of the Kiwi MPG this week and have put it through its paces. It's an alternative to the higher priced PLX Kiwi that was not as popular because of the price point. The Kiwi is still a great unit and a huge technology advancement over the ScangaugeII with its OLED screen and fuel saving games, but was not what people wanted when saving money was key.

At $89 it's both affordable and does all the basics people really want. Real-time MPG, $ spent and average MPG are the first level of menus since they're the most commonly accessed. Hold down the Mode button for two seconds and it jumps to Menu Level 2 - now you have more trip data such as distance til empty, fuel used, fuel remaining, $ til empty, etc.

The third menu is the code reader to read engine parameters. You can use the Kiwi MPG as a speedometer, Tachometer for RPM, display coolant temperature and throttle position. The next menu level is Code Scanner/ Scan tool where you can check engine trouble codes and reset check engine light if needed. It shows no data and only says "code" if you have no trouble codes.

I also wanted to check on how the electronics might stand up over the long run, so I checked to see if the housing got hot after a 3 hour drive to Bend, Oregon. I only felt a slight warmth, which must be due to the low power requirements supplied by the OBDII port. I think it will hold up for a long time. The MPG also keeps a log of your trips in its memory so when you restart the vehicle, no previous data is lost.

I also want to mention you can setup the MPG in both Standard and Metric units. My only gripe is I wish changing menus was slightly faster, but then again if you're driving you shouldn't be changing menus anyway.

You can get the MPG here. Shipping starts April 6th.

http://www.needfultoyz.com/PLX_Kiwi_MPG_p/plxd1010.htm