Souping-up profits as engine performance customers buy tire and wheel upgrades
Half of the people purchasing factory-fresh cars and trucks with performance upgrades by Hennessey Performance Engineering also decide to replace the OEM tires and wheels with optional higher-end add-ons, according to Dave Golder, Hennessey’s general manager.
“It’s about 50-50,” says Golder, adding that the operation attracts a wide variety of performance enthusiasts. The business operates from a new 24,000 square foot facility located at Lonestar Motorsports Park near Houston, yet “people come from all over – more from out of Texas than in Texas” to seek the latest enhancements.
Ditto for the factory-installed wheels: The program presents a choice of CCW or HRE wheels, and customers tend to prefer either of those when compared to the more-staid OEM offerings, Golder points out.
“Money is not much of an object for most of our customers – it’s more of a styling issue,” he says; the average ticket for a Hennessey SRT8 amounts to $30,000. About 75 percent of the patrons are not concerned with the cost. “The other 25 percent, we have to work on upselling that customer.”
Hennessey, also known as HPE to high-performance fans, has numerous mechanical packages available for the new Challenger, including naturally-aspirated versions with 500-, 530- and 575-horsepower or forced induction applications (either turbocharged or supercharged) producing 600 to 725 horsepower.
“The Challenger does a lot of things very well, and the factory SRT8 is a great car to start with,” says company founder John Hennessey. “Unfortunately, it’s a big car weighing over 4,000 pounds. So, while we can’t remove 800 pounds from the car, we can add another 195 horsepower.”
The most popular package is expected to be the Hennessey HPE600 SC that is now available directly from HPE as well as from its growing dealer network.
While HPE set out to improve the Challengers’ straight line acceleration, Hennessey also developed track tested upgrades to help improve the car’s handling and braking.
In early testing, a Hennessey Challenger HPE600 Turbo recorded a quarter mile time of 11.9 seconds at 121 mph on optional Nitto Drag Radial tires with “a conservative launch.” The HPE600 also spent time on the Carolina Motorsports Park road course, where HPE’s suspension upgrades (including KW adjustable coil-over shocks/springs, larger anti-roll bars, and unique bushings) were track-tuned. With the significant increase in power and handling, HPE also has available for the Challenger a set of vehicle-specific StopTech brakes with lightweight rotors.
Located about 45 minutes from Houston at the Lonestar Motorsports Park in Sealy, Texas, the Hennessey facility includes a quarter-mile dragstrip, 1.4-mile test track, 20 service bays, 15 vehicle lifts, secure indoor storage, an engine assembly room plus a cylinder head porting/machining shop, a welding and metal fabrication shop a Dynojet 248C chassis dynamometer rated to 1800 rear wheel hp and a chassis dynamometer wideband air/fuel analyzer along with an attractive and comfortable showroom and customer waiting area. There is a branch division of the company in Orange County, Calif.
For more information, visit www.HennesseyPerformance.com.
About the Author
James Guyette
James E. Guyette is a long-time contributing editor to Aftermarket Business World, ABRN and Motor Age magazines.