An e-mail from Callaway.

[RODSCALIP5]

I had plans on doing a replica of the Mazdaspeed Protege for the P5. Obviously I need the Turbo, so I sent Callaway an e-mail and here's his response:

Steven,
We cannot sell the system as Mazda owns it.
However, we are working with them on some solutions.
Be assured that it would be very complicated and very expensive to do
this job on the normal 5. As soon as we get caught up a bit with
production, we'll see about publishing answers to those FAQs so that
everyone understands what would be involved.
Best Regards,

Reeves Callaway

 

[APEXistud]

Clear enough. So basically they're saying....."You P5, MP3 and base protege owners are screwed".

 

[saided18]

yeah i emailed then like 6 months ago and told me they only make turbo kit for Companies and not for individuals.

oh well screw them. b/c if they were smart they could make some money if the produced a kit of the MP3/P5 that was affordable.

 

[turbo740]

That's the problem. They could make "SOME" money by selling to individuals. When they sell to big companies they make "A FRIGGIN TON" of money. I think that would qualify them as being "smart."
There are so many other turbo kits out there, why would you worry about a Callaway kit anyway?

 

[YellowBaggedP5]

yeah i emailed then like 6 months ago and told me they only make turbo kit for Companies and not for individuals.

oh well screw them. b/c if they were smart they could make some money if the produced a kit of the MP3/P5 that was affordable.

If they were smart? lol, i believe they are pretty smart.

 

[APEXistud]

Yeah I'd have to agree with you guys about them being smart. Selling kits to people and selling kits to companies are 2 different things. Who knows how many millions of dollars that Calloway got paid to develop that kit alone.

 

[Newf]

It's not just a good idea due to money.

Think about it: They design kits for MAzda. Mazda makes and sells the cars. If there are any troubles with cars...Mazda has to fix them

If Callaway sold kits to individuals, then they would also have to provide support to them as well. And providing that support is a HUGE responsibility and expense. And in the end, they may not make all that much money.

So yes, it's a very smart move to only sell to big companies

 

[Rotus]

Seems to be the same thing that happenned with Racing Beat. They helped with the MP3 and it took them a while to get parts out for public consumption. Those parts had to be diff from the ones that they developed for Mazda. Probably contractual.

I think that Mazda and Callaway are being very smart on this. I don't think that Callaway got millions to develop that system. Probably way less than a mil. Look at the specs on their system and look at the specs on the aftermarket systems available. What is the crank hp on the msp? About 170? I think that all the aftermarket turbos I've seen can put that power to the wheels. What you're getting with the msp is the warranty from Mazda and all the other goodies they put on it.

I'm not exactly sure on this, but I think that Callaway may still make kits for specific cars. They sure did a lot for GM and back in the day, he sold kits to individuals. I think he started out with a turbo for his personal BMW 320i. That was when people used to use water injection to help control the detonation of street turbo'ed cars. We've come a long way...

 

[turbo740]

The Callaway system makes less power because it's designed to last throughout the warranty without severely affecting engine and drivetrain life. It's like the chips in the VW 1.8t's. Put in a chip, get 50hp and 75ft/lb. But don't expect your car to last that 10/100 that VW designed it to.
Same deal here. Reliability goes up as power goes down. And I wouldn't be so sure about "way less than a mil" to Callaway. Imagine the R&D and reliability testing that Mazda made them go through before they even got the contract!