With the rise in powersports audio and truck outfitting, more dealers are entering these categories, some to find they are transforming their businesses into something entirely new.
Six years ago, Osprey on the Automile, near Boston, was an expediter to Ford and Chevy dealers. Often when a dealer would order a back up camera installation on a van, it would tell Osprey that the van would be out of commission for two weeks getting shelving, so the camera install had to work around that. This happened so frequently, said Osprey’s Jason Maron, that “my dad said, why don’t WE do this?”
Osprey began installing shelving for commercial vans as well as ladder racks and interior lights. Boston is a booming city, with lots of new construction and no shortage of contractors. Now Osprey works on 12 to 15 vans a day. It services 30 to 40 car dealerships in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The shop’s revenue tripled. It opened up a second business called Boston Truck & Van Outfitters, and van conversions are now 80 percent of its sales.
In January the shop moved to a 12,000 square foot location (from a 4K square foot shop) with a loading dock that accommodates shelving pallets. It’s now adding truck and pickup outfitting.
Quality Car Stereo
Five years ago, Quality Car Stereo in Arizona was a car audio only shop. It started installing audio in UTVs at the request of customers.
Owner Chase Moll was a UTV enthusiast and so he ventured into adding audio for a few clients. Word of mouth spread and more customers began asking for the same. “They just kept coming and coming and we launched UTV Stereo in about 2015,” he said.
So there are two businesses now running in one large showroom split down the middle with two different signs outside the front of the building.
UTVs quickly took over and business more than doubled. Combined, Moll’s business is now 60 percent UTV and 40 percent car audio. Sales total about $1 million a year.
Quality Stereo sells Kicker, Focal, Wet Sounds, AudioFormz, Rockford, Pioneer, Kenwood and SSV Works.
The average ticket in powersports audio is $2,000 where in car audio, it’ about $1,000.
The only word of caution Moll offers is that he wonders if the UTV business scares away some of the car audio customers.
Cartronics, Santa Rosa
Cartronics in Santa Rosa, CA has been a car audio shop since 1999. It started installing powersports audio in vehicles back in 2007 and the business grew so fast it ended up purchasing the local Polaris dealer in 2014 and split into two businesses–Norcal Powersports and Marine, (which also sells Sea-Doo, Polaris and CanAm) and Cartronics for car audio. It now sells UTVs and ATVs as well as outfitting them with audio products from brands including Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer, JL Audio, Rockford, Morel and Wet Sounds.
The shop said its powersports side of the business is still growing and almost doubled in volume the last two years in a row, according to President Dan Berry. Two years ago, the business moved into a new 24,000 square foot facility to house both shops. Berry says there’s a lot of crossover between the two. His advice to anyone thinking about diversifying, “Find niche markets that allow your to integrate your products into those vehicles.”
Top photo: Osprey on the Automile, Boston
