Tuner temptation at Visteon?

Aftermarket tuners--the Fast and the Furious crowd--may be attracting still another Tier One supplier--Visteon Corp.--into the $27-billion parts market. But the automotive supplier's tactic is not to go directly to the parts store, but to work with their automotive customers, or so a Visteon engineer who asked for anonymity told AD & P.

In other words, Visteon will develop high-performance air filtration systems that they'll supply to the OEMs for use on special models, or which will be sold through the OEM's dealer network. In either case, the units will not void the OEM warranty. The first aftermarket kits would be for vehicles that are currently equipped with Visteon air intake systems. Some time later, systems would be created for cars that don't have factory-original Visteon intake units.

According to the Visteon engineer, one major advantage of this approach would be the retention of a brand-specific sound characteristic. Although OEMs are developing signature sounds for a few vehicles right now, there is an increasing awareness among OEMs of the importance of a brand-specific powertrain sound. By taking that into account up front, this same signature would be maintained in the migration to the aftermarket. "It's a growing concern," said the engineer, who added, "and we want to position ourselves so we're ready to capitalize on our knowledge in this area."--CAS