I'm in the process of purchasing a SCION, but i haven't decided on which one. I love the styling of the XD, but not the performance.

So because of this, I decided to contact the best company (IMO) currently making products for SCION, PTUNING. I asked if they were planning any sort of turbo kit for the XD, and I said that I was sure that if they produced one, many XD owners would buy it.

Here was their response,

Hello Mike,

Thank you for your inquiry.

We definitely can produce a worthy turbo kit for the Scion xD.
However, like any big project, in order for us to commit money and time in R&D, we would also need commitments from potential customers.
Therefore, if we can get 10 Scion xD customers to commit a $2000 deposit each, we would love to start R&D as early as October of this year.
We would also need a stock xD for development for about a month. The person loaning the xD will get the final turbo kit for half off.

Please contact me if you have any further questions.

Regards,
Mike @ PTUNING
ph: 703-257-1728
www.ptuning.com


I just thought I would share this incase anyone was interested, or just curious.

 

That's a pretty hefty deposit right there. Especially from 10 people. I know R&D is expensive, but that might be a tough $20k to gather.

 

To clarify on the deposit. We don't need the deposit money to do the R&D. However, we need these deposit as commitment to the kit once they are in production. As with any company, we can not afford to put tons of money into R&D to sell one kit.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions or concerns pertaining to this potential project.

Regards,
Mike @ PTUNING

 

I dont understand, if you are looking for a commitment why arent you asking for a $500 deposit?

 

You won't be as apt to drop out with a $2000 deposit.

You're pretty much committed at that point, and if you're willing to give $2000 you're probably not gonna back out. If you give $500 bucks, after its all said and done its easier to talk yourself out of spending the rest.

 

2000k deposit is a lot, yes

but if you are serious about buying a kit for the XD then this should be no problem, and its basically a guaranteed awesomeness that comes with all Ptuning products!

 

everyone with an xD should pounce on this. I know I would

 

and I would also be happier knowing that they only owe me $500 when they back out of making the kit...

no offense to PTuning, but we have had 4 companies say they will do it and none have come through for us... we need a little bit of confidence before we can drop $2000 on something that some one may take 2 years to return the money if it falls through...

 

are you serious, its ptuning, if they gather enough potential customers and get what they need to get the ball rolling, they will! there not todd from turbo toyotas, ptuning is a very professional company!

 

P-tuning has a very good rep, and all the guys (that I have met) are straight forward and awesome people. A huge shop like them couldn't afford to do what Todd form TT did, because it would kill their rep and potentially ruin the company.

 

all 4 companies yes, but none of them have the rep that ptuning has and u know with that comes quality and a great kit. just look at the TC kit

 

Back out? One of PTunings largest markets is the tC. If they back out of making the xD kit, they can kiss the majority of the tC market goodbye. Maybe you haven't noticed, but the Scion community is pretty cheap as a whole. I've seen countless times where people tried to get a product going, people said they would buy, and when time comes to pay up, only about 10-20% end up paying for their commitment. A $2,000 commitment deposit is nothing.

 

The reason I contacted PTuning was because I knew they were trustworthy. I mean, look at what they did for the tc community. They built an incredible turbo kit, as well as other great accesories. They even do a short block. And if that wasn't good enough, they made a cheaper short block, for those that don't want to spend that much.

Honestly I think if you do give them a deposit you have NOTHING to worry about. I'm sure you can expect a great turbo kit.

 

$2K up payment is a bit on the steep side, but still reasonable if you are getting a complete and top notch quality kit...

I would estimate a $4K total for a decent kit including injectors, FIC and harness.

Another factor is the wait time... I wouldn't like to wait more than 8-10wks after the payment has been made to receive the parts...


Is not a bad deal... but getting 10 people will be hard...

 

To all those that have spoken to us, met us, or just heard about us, thank you for the kind words.

Maybe Mike didn't make it too clear as to what the deposit was for. It's not to pay me or the PTUNING crew to do the actual R&D, it's to ensure that we have a fixed number of FULLY committed customers that are ready to pay the balance and receive their kits upon completion.

The difference between us and other smaller one-man operation shops that have failed in the past is that we do not try and manufacture all the final components in-house on an as you go basis. When we are done prototyping a particular part, we will have it manufactured in large quantities to ensure quality and repeatability of fit and finish. Unless we purposely make a running revision to a component of the kit, you can be sure that whether you recieve the first or the 100th intercooler piping set that they will all fit the same. Doing this the right way though cost mega dollars on our part. We often have to commit to producing components in quantities of 50-100 or more pieces at a time.

Now with only verbal commitments there is a very high probably rate that we as a company can end up sitting on several dozen of each component, which is not good.

Hope this helps to clarify things.

- Toan

 

PTuning is Scion's own Mugen/Spoon To expect any less is to expect that of those companies.

But $2k is a bit steep for most users here to tally up within a months time. Maybe we can schedule a payment plan with you guys, say like 300-400 a month at least to show commitment. By then end of the year that would be almost half at least.

 

ptuning im ready to put down 2000 for a tc automatic kit lol

 

What kind of time frame would you need 10 commitments by?

 

if 2k is the deposit. how much are these kits supposibly going to run for? I can possibly come up with the money in a few weeks. But I dont mind you r&d my car for a month since you guys arent too far and wouldnt mind a half off =] lol. I've seen ptuning's work and really pleased with their tc and xa

 

silverbullet89. I believed I talked to you in length at our showroom about a week ago regarding producing our tC turbo kit for the automatic trans. I have talked it over with our fabricator and production manager, and I have some updates. I don't want to go off on topic, so I will PM you soon.

Regards,
Mike @ PTUNING