[SubyFi]

EDIT: Check for updates here: Harman Motive Blog

HARMAN MOTIVE CLOSING FAQ

Updated 11/18/2008 - 3:00PM

So as you’ve probably heard, we going to close our Torrance facility and unload a lot of our equipment and inventory. This raises many questions. I’ll do my best to answer them here. If you have any questions or comments, just shoot me an email – happy to answer them.

1. Why are you closing?
2. What happens next?
3. What about your TimeAttack program?
4. What abour Harman Motive products?
5. What’s going to happen with the rest of your inventory?
6. Are you selling the dyno? How about the other shop equipment?
7. What’s going to happen with the building?

1. Why are you closing?

I took a huge risk two years ago when I decided to purchase our current building and rapidly expand the business. I carefully weighed my options and decided to go for it. The success of the plan hinged on continued growth over the course of the first three years and left little room for downturn.

Unfortunately, the business downturn of the past few months has put a wrench in all this. With the amount of overhead we have and our loan requirements, we simply cannot afford any dropoff in business. The last three months have seen a drop in business and we have begun to accumalate operating losses. It doesn’t take much to make a problem of this sort really bad. If I decided to continue with our current facility, another bad month could do serious financial damage to me and the business. By closing this facility and limiting our overhead, we will be able to emerge from this difficult time hurt, but not broken.

I really want everyone to understand this next part – this is most important.

We are closing the shop and making these moves to keep Harman Motive healthy. We are not broke, but if we don’t reduce our overhead quickly, we will be. As such, I am taking these steps to ensure we remain solvent, can satisfy our various liabilities, and will have opportunities to grow in the future.

I’m not quitting or giving up, I’m simply dealing with the reality of the situation and taking the responsible steps to ensure my/our future. These decisions are never easy and certainly the next few months will be difficult, but this is what I signed up for when I opened this business. I’m sad that it’s reached this point, but I’m optimistic for the future – my business decisions are what ultimately led us to this point, and that’s something I can learn from and improve.

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2. What happens next?

Assuming we move through this transition quickly, Harman Motive will simply be a smaller more cost effective enterprise. We’ve invested a great deal in our products and our race program and have enjoyed success with both. I hope to emerge as a leaner more efficient business that still offers the same great service and products we always have. This will require the support of the community and some good luck on the business end, but we’ll fight our hardest to make it happen.

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3. What about your TimeAttack program?

Fortunately, we’re in good shape here. JC Meynet will be back next year in the 2006 STI. We’re doing a full rebuild over the winter and will be making a hard push into the Mod class for next season. As we’ve already secured a host of great sponsors, we’re confident next year will prove our most successful yet… although we’d be happy with the 2008 result over again.

We’re not going to be able to run a three car team next year, so the 2008 STI will be up for sale. This is an awesome car at a great price, hopefully it ends up with the right owner. The 2008 Evo X will be running next year as well as that car is owned by Stoptech, Harman Motive is just a major sponsor.

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4. What about Harman Motive products?

To me personally, the Harman Motive products are the best thing I built over the last four years. I plan on continuing with development and sales of these products in the future. We have a good amount in inventory now and huge number of products in the pipeline. We’ll need to get through this current stage before we can release new product, but trust me, you’ll be impressed. For now, just make sure to buy all the HM stuff you can!

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5. What’s going to happen with the rest of your inventory?

We need to sell off most of it quickly to help finance some of the losses we’re experiencing now. As such, we’ll be offering great pricing on everything we have in stock. We’ll do our best to post prices on the website and on forums, but I’d suggest you give us a call to see what we can do. We’ve also received a lot of interest from other shops regarding our inventory – we have a complete list and are happy to send it to legitimate businesses – just contact us.

We are less willing to discount the Harman Motive products. Unlike many of the other items we carry, the HM stuff has been selling strong and consistent since we launched the line. If you guys are interested in keeping the brand alive, it’s critical that we don’t erode it’s value.

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6. Are you selling the dyno? How about the other shop equipment?

Everything is available at the right offer. Don’t lowball us please, we have enough nonsense to deal with. If you’re interested in anything, please contact Dan directly. You are also welcome to stop by the shop and check out what we’ve got.

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7. What’s going to happen with the building?

As you may or may not know, Dan owns the building. Currently it’s being rented by Harman Motive. As such, the building is available for lease or for sale. We are willing to include the equipment either way if necessary. The building is listed with Jae Yoo of CB Richard Ellis. You can contact him or Dan if you have any questions.

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Harman Motive Blog » PRESS RELEASE: Harman Motive to Close Torrance Facility

PRESS RELEASE

November 18, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Harman Motive to Close Torrance, CA Facility

On December 20, 2008, Harman Motive will be closing its Torrance, CA facility. Due to increasing economic pressures and sales downturns, we are unable to support our current building.

Exit Strategy

Harman Motive will be offering aggressive pricing on all in-stock items. Please contact us to enquire about cost and availability. We will beat any price. We still have tons of great products in stock from leading performance manufacturers. We will be updating our website and various forums with the latest pricing and availability over the coming weeks.

Harman Motive will be selling most of our shop equipment. This includes our one-of-a-kind dyno cell, Mustang MD500SE dynamometer, heavy shop equipment, lifts, compressors, etc. Our Harman Motive 2008 Subaru STI will also be available for sale. Please see our website for details on available equipment.

Our 10,000 square foot building is available for sale or lease. It is truly a one-of-a-kind facility and is available with or without our equipment. This is the finest turn key shop available anywhere. No expense was spared in the construction and build-out and we would love to see our facility remain in good use. If you are interested, please contact Jae Yoo at CBRE: (310) 516-2305.

Harman Motive will remain open through December 20, 2008. We will be fully staffed and will continue to offer great customer service and fast shipping through that time.

We will have some service and tuning time available through the close date. Please contact us at info@harmanmotive.com to enquire about availability.

Harman Motive’s founder and president Dan Harman said:

“It’s been an amazing ride for the last five years. It has been a great pleasure serving the aftermarket in So Cal and around the world. I am grateful for the successes we have had and all of the great people we’ve had the pleasure of meeting along the way. Certainly this is a difficult time for all of us, but I am confident that we will emerge better and stronger than ever.”

If you have any questions, please contact Judey Rubio at (310) 539-9010 or info@harmanmotive.com

This sucks. I blame the banks lending out mortgages to high risk people.

[nufan4322]

so wait, are they open until dec20? can i still get a dyno tuned from them until then?

[SubyFi]

Call the shop and find out.

We will have some service and tuning time available through the close date. Please contact us at info@harmanmotive.com to enquire about availability.

[Luxirie]

wow, that's crazy!!!

[Darkiller]

wow .. when i called to get my 20g installed they where always busy

[Wes]

yea thats crazy i called to get stuff installed and they were booked solid for weeks.

[USNSTI]

Dude that blows. Not sure what to blame, or if we need to blame anything or anyone. I wish Dan and all his crew the best. It is a major loss to the community that Harman will no longer be tuning. Hopefully someone buys their shop and puts it to work, but I kinda doubt that is going to happen.....

[nufan4322]

or dan can start his own shop. either way people will still go.

[USNSTI]

Originally Posted by nufan4322

or dan can start his own shop. either way people will still go.

I thought HarmanMotive was his own shop?

[AMG]

Is this just the close of the shop or the close of the entire program? Sad day...