Exhaust Systems Firm Revs Up Performance : Transportation: Borla makes a name for itself with car buffs. They spend between $330 and $3,000 for its products.
Sell American high-performance auto mufflers to the Japanese on their home turf?
It’s not just a pipe dream for Borla Performance Industries. Last month the Oxnard company introduced its first product for the Japanese, an exhaust system for Corvettes, at a Tokyo auto show.
Alexander Borla, president of the 11-year-old company, said marketing his exhaust systems in Japan is a sound move. “We’re riding the wave of American automobiles that are winding up in Japan. Every year I see more and more,” as jeeps, sports cars and Harley-Davidson motorcycles are getting popular.
Borla’s company, which Borla claims did $3 million in sales last year, has made a name for itself with a line of stainless-steel exhaust systems. The systems extract more power from an auto or truck’s engine because they work more efficiently at getting the hot gasses out of the engine than conventional exhaust pipes, mufflers and catalytic converters. Most of his customers are baby boomers who remember the “muscle cars” of the ‘60s and are willing to spend more to squeeze extra power out of their cars.
When Ford, General Motors or Chrysler produce a vehicle, the mufflers are designed to be as quiet as possible, Borla said. But about 10% of the owners are willing to put up with a bit more noise to improve acceleration, he said.
Instead of spending $60 at Midas for a new muffler, these car buffs will spend from $330 to $3,000 for a Borla exhaust system. About 50 small companies in the U. S. make high-performance exhaust systems that they sell through specialty auto parts shops and the mail.
Borla and its competition have thrived, independent experts say, because the exhaust system “is the cheapest, most effective way to get a rear-wheel horsepower increase in any kind of vehicle,” said Dick Gazan, owner of Spectra Racing & Engine Development in San Dimas.
Joe Sherman, a Huntington Beach racing-engine builder, said he uses less expensive exhaust systems that “perform as good or better” than the Borla models, but credits Borla with offering a quality product. “He makes everything out of stainless steel. Right away the price goes up,” Sherman said. “But it should last about three times as long. You might say he has the Cadillac line of mufflers.”
Borla Industries and its Japanese distributor, Startline Inc., hope to offer exhaust systems for the American vehicles most popular in Japan, including Camaros, Firebirds, Jeep Cherokees and Chevrolet Astro vans. “The Japanese are . . . heavily into the American auto scene so they want American parts on their cars and motorcycles,” Borla said.
To meet Japan’s emissions laws and other requirements, Borla recently became the first company based outside Japan to join the Japan Automotive Sports Muffler Assn. On his trip to Japan last month, Borla said he met with U. S. Ambassador Walter F. Mondale, who complimented him on working his way into the Japanese market. “He was very interested in how we became successful in Japan and interested in using the same formula to help other companies,” Borla said.
Borla said that within five years, Europe and Asia, which now account for 10% of his company’s sales, will increase to 25%. With the expansion into Japan, his goal is $600,000 in foreign sales in 1994. The company sells currently in Australia, England, Canada, Germany and New Zealand, the Arab Emirates, Brunei, Holland and South America.
What makes Borla’s mufflers stand out? “You can take any of our mufflers and look right through it,” he said. “Other mufflers have baffles--or what I call ‘mazes and rat traps.’ The hot exhaust gasses have to go all over the place,” which diminishes engine power.
Borla has two patents and a third pending for a combination muffler and catalytic converter that enhances performance and reduces emissions. A big auto maker, Borla claims, has expressed interest in utilizing the technology under license for its exhaust systems.
Having a fast, agile set of wheels has always been a priority for Borla, a Romanian immigrant who was fascinated with autos as a teen-ager. In 1976 he started a New York company that made replacement exhaust systems for Rolls Royces and Bentleys. But his heart remained with sports cars and racing. “I got bored with the stodgy, old people who owned Rolls Royces. I wanted to get involved in performance vehicles,” Borla said.
He sold the East Coast operation and moved across country, leased space and, starting with $7,000 and 10 new employees, opened his company in 1983. Over the years he got publicity by developing exhaust systems for the auto makers’ “concept cars” exhibited at auto shows. He also advertises in about 30 auto magazines, including Car and Driver, Road & Track and Motor Trend.
Borla offers exhaust components for about 200 vehicles, from exotic Ferraris and Lamborghinis to more subdued Chevrolet Suburbans. When Borla started, he was in the highbrow Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche market. But he saw that the money was in volume, so he shifted the product line to the larger American market and started making exhaust equipment for Corvettes and full-size pickup trucks. Today his list prices range from $332 for a Chrysler Eagle Talon exhaust system to $3,048 for a Lamborghini Diablo.
“European cars have gotten so expensive. You can go out and buy a $20,000 American car and blow away an $80,000 Mercedes,” said Borla, who drives a 1993 Ford Mustang Cobra equipped, naturally, with Borla mufflers. By the time he’s through tweaking and adding a supercharger, he figures he’ll have about 450 horsepower under the hood.
Last fall the company, which now has 50 workers, moved to a five-acre site that will include an emissions lab, an 1/8-mile drag strip, a slalom course and a skid pad to test cars fitted with Borla mufflers
To diversify, the company plans to eventually sell a turbocharging system for Harley Davidsons in Japan. But Borla’s growth has been fueled by aggressive marketing. Sales of the company’s mufflers and exhaust systems, which he said are available as dealer-installed options at Ford dealers nationwide this year, could produce another $800,000 in sales this year.
“We equipped some Ford pickup trucks which needed more power for towing. Going up a grade the trucks, towing a 15,000 pound load, could only go about 55 m.p.h. With the exhaust system they can go 65 to 68 m.p.h.,” Borla said. His company also has a deal to supply replacement exhaust systems for the United Parcel Service’s local fleet of delivery trucks.
