Hey Guys,The APS website has been updated today and there are more pics and information on the APS true dual 2.5'' cat back sports exhaust system for you to browse. Hope you enjoy.

Peter

APS

 

Thanks Peter, it looks great. But can you get some dynos done on N/A 350z so I can get it NOW!

 

No problem at all hope you liked the APS cat back system, we are very pleased with the exhaust development (many months of building and testing different designs to find the optimum performance) and APS will release the system in September 04.

Will have power graphs on the APS web site within the next 2 weeks, APS technicians will dyno test at least 3 Z cars with the cat back exhaust system in order to measure the REAL AVERAGE power increase, as no 2 engines are ever identical (small variations in power are frequently measured).


I am positive you guys will be impressed with the design, performance, and build quality of the APS system, we believe we have set a new bench mark in Australia for performance exhaust systems, and APS will offer OZ customers a special discount on the exhaust, maybe we could organise a group buy for you guys. .

Peter

APS

 

Peter, group buy sounds good to me. Also if you could post noise levels and a sound clip of the cat back on a NA Z, i would apreciate it a lot.

 

we believe we have set a new bench mark in Australia for performance exhaust systems

This is great to hear. If you would like to confirm this belief some of our melbourne 350z owners with HiTech exhausts probabally wouldnt mind using your dyno to make a direct comparison.

 

Mate no doubt this will happen in the near future (that is a sound clip of a N/A Z engine with a APS cat back system) APS will complete all of the dyno testing (3 cars) next week and then field testing needs to be completed (10,000 kms) before engineering final sign off, then production of the APS cat back system can commence.

Will keep you updated with the progress of the APS catback system, if you would like to organise a group buy for the APS exhaust product maybe you can PM me to discuss further.

Peter

APS

 

Hi Murray, this will be conducted in due course as part of APS product development, though the method APS will utilise is the same car, same fuel and dynamometer to ensure we achieve meaningful results in terms of a true direct comparison between the products.

We will at some time in the future organise a dyno day at APS for forum members (if forum members are interested) and then we can test a number of different Z cars with a number of different mods to see what works well on the Z engine. Forum Members let me know if this is of interest to you, and I will then plan a day for later on this year.

Peter

APS

 

Peter(Aps),

What was the thinking/circumstances behind charging ~AU$1850 to people in Australia, and the US people are charged US$995 = ~AU$1440?

 

I expect that the Australian RRP will be approx $1850 inc GST ($1680 + 168 gst =$1848) this price may be lower depending on production costs which are yet to be finalised.

The US price is the US price and high volume sales means a lower domestic price for consumers (controlled by competition within the market). This is not possible within the Australian Market due to our much smaller consumer base (20 Million V 320 Million consumers) and therefore the much lower volume of sales of the 350Z car.

That said, APS will release the cat back system within Australia at the most competitive price that is practical to ensure strong market penetration and high customer satisfaction for those Z car owners who demand a high quality exhaust system.

Peter

APS

 

So it may end up cheaper to order from the US. eg if the RRP is $995 you'll probably be able to find it for $900. Add 30% (my rule of thumb which works) to cover shipping, duty etc and you have $1170 which at current rates is AUD$1679

 

Peter(Aps),
Can you use that as a reason for the different price chargers if the company is in Australia?

Good point Matt,
And you can get companies to write down the price on the receipt to limit Duty and GST by up to 50% or more in most cases, so instead of adding 10% and 15% for GST and duty only add 5% and 7.5%. That will lower the total again.

 

I very much doubt it, though if that proves to be the case then fair enough.

The $995 price I mentioned is what I expect the best STREET price to be though ths may not in fact be correct, it depends on what the US dealers are prepared to sell the product for.

The final price for the US market has not yet been finalised, I believe the MSRP will be approx $1195 USD ($1730 AUD + GST = $1903 AUD) for the cat back system and the street price will be determined by domestic market forces. As I said previously we hope to release the cat back system in Australia at the best price possible which may be lower than the $1850.

Only time will tell on the pricing issue as we are yet to confirm US and Aust MSRP.

 

Where are the exhausts made? Here or the US? You mentioned in another post that you werent including the exhaust in the TT kit because of the cost to ship it to the US, so im assuming they are made here.

You must be charging alot for the smaller AU market to end up with ours still costing more that the US ones which include shipping to the US.

 

See my post above for the answers on the prices, as I have said previously prices are not yet final and market forces within the US will dictate the US domestic market prices.

APS does not pay freight to the US so that is not relevant to this discussion, bottom line the APS cat back will be competitively priced for a high quality precision made product.

Regards

Peter

 

Yeah thats cool, I wasnt after a response on your pricing again, just making an observation based on your comment below.

APS Wrote:

"we were going to package the exhaust system as part of the TT system for the US Market, though due to the high freight expense we have now deleted the APS cat back exhaust from the TT system."

Were you referring to costs for people to get their system freighted to them within the US from where ever APS USA is, once you have shipped the systems to the US for free?

 

Fair enough although that pricing puts you behind the local US competition. eg the Borla sells for a street price of $700 to $800. You'll also be at a slight disadvantage in that US chassis dynos typically read higher than our own which will make the US products look better. Then again we seem to get a better increase from exhausts than the US cars do which may cancel things out.

 

Yeah fair enough, though Borla is not our competition, I think you need to compare apples with apples, not apples to oranges.

I believe other brands of true twin 2.5'' cat back exhausts are our real competition and I feel that the APS design and build quality (stainless steel flanges and hangers and 100% tig welding) is superior to many other cat back systems sold in the US.

Bottom line, APS is not attempting to produce a low end product to the contrary we intend producing a cat back system which is equal to or better than most on the planet.

We will conduct chassis dyno testing in the US to ensure we have a genuine comparison to other brands of cat back products measured on the same or similar type of dyno, this should then provide an even playing field, I hope.

The reason we achieve better power results from exhaust work in Australia is the exhaust on the Australian model Z is more restrictive than the US model car, due to the stricter dB noise limits in Australia (95dB in the US vs 90dB in Australia.

Regards

Peter

APS

 

Can you confirm that 100%? We've speculated for some time that was the case but we have the same part numbers here and there so were never sure.

 

Guys, I'm sure Peter is a descent bloke, but we must keep in mind that APS is a company that is selling its products in a competitive environment. APS believes it exhaust is worth $1850 (or whatever price it ends up offering it for) and will attempt to sell it for that price. It is easy for a company to drop its price if it is struggling with sales in order to generate sales, but it cannot increase its prices once it sets the benchmark price. So APS will try to maximise its profit by selling at $1850 initially.

We as consumers compare like products before we buy. The final justification on the price we are prepared to pay is based on a number of measurable items plus our emotions.

For example, the HT exhaust is not a true dual design. That does not matter to me as a consumer as I am interested in the additional output provided by the aftermarket exhaust. If HT output is greater than APS, then I buy HT at a cheaper price. Others may involve emotion in their decision making process and want a true dual exhaust, despite possibly less power and more money for the true dual - that's emotional buying.

Finally, APS may actually have a better made product that costs them more to manufacture than another company's exhaust. Even if both exhausts produce the same power and weigh the same, APS may never be able to compete with a lower priced exhaust as it would errode their gross margin doing so to the point where it is not worth manufacturing the exhaust any further.

In time, an independant dyno will reveal how good the exhaust is and this will have a big impact on its sales, together with the sticker price.

Waiting patiently.

 

Originally posted by apsilon
Can you confirm that 100%? We've speculated for some time that was the case but we have the same part numbers here and there so were never sure.

Matt,

I got the part number from both US and here and posted a while ago.

AU Part number: 20100-CD000

and ...

US Part Number: 20100-CD010

Different.