NAM News

VW/Audi Get Together - 6/22/08

It’s finally nice weather in New England, and we can’t wait to get everyone together again! Last year’s GTG was a huge success and we had far more people than we expected. This year we hope to have another great gathering but we’re going to have a separate date for BMW owners in an effort to control the size of the crowds. We’ll announce that date later.

For all the details (including our specials on ECU flashing from Revo, Neuspeed, Unitronic, and APR), please read our post on the VWVortex forums: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3794435

Five Year Anniversary!!

This February, we are celebrating the five year anniversary of North American Motorsports. This is a very exciting milestone for us, as we have been working very hard the past few years to become a respected source of aftermarkets parts, accessories, and information. We feel we have come a long way toward reaching that goal, and we hope you do as well. Those of you who have dealt with us know we strive to offer our customers only the best products and service.

For those of you who might not be aware, North American Motorsports is owned and operated by four equal partners. At the current time we have no employees, so all four partners run every single aspect of the business. We handle accounting, purchasing, order processing, customer support, and every detail of our website which was built from the ground up in house. As you might imagine this is no small task, especially considering our growth rate is about 33%. This means that every time you send us an email or call us you are dealing directly with one of the owners. We believe this to be a very good thing in terms of customer service, at least for the time being. As we continue to grow it is inevitable that we will require outside help to handle the work load. When that time comes we will of course welcome it, as we strive to provide excellent service in all aspects of our business.

This past year saw the opening of our 4000 square foot facility in Vernon, CT. This facility houses our showroom, offices, warehouse, and car bay. We have recently added another 2000 square feet of storage space above our offices and showroom so that we can store more product and begin to provide more services. We are beginning the process of getting licensed with the state of Connecticut to offer installation services. We hope to offer installations for such products as: exhausts, suspension, body kits, intakes, and more. In addition to the installation services, we are weighing the idea of getting a dyno at the same time. While we would love to have a dyno for obvious reasons, the expense of one of these machines is no small hurdle. So, we welcome any comments or suggestions regarding the possibility of a dyno at our facility.

For those of you who have known about us for some time, you probably know that we began offering products for a wide variety of cars. We had lines for Acura, Honda, Mitsubishi, Toyota, VW, Audi, BMW and others. While initially this was something we thought might work, we quickly realized what our niche market was. In recent months we have greatly refined our product offering to include parts for mainly European cars. Our three areas of concentration are Audi, VW and BMW. In the coming months we will further refine our product lines to include only these European makes. We have always been enthusiasts of European cars, and the response in this market has been overwhelming. It is only natural that we embrace this market and concentrate on providing products and services for our fellow enthusiasts.

In closing, we would like to thank all of our customers and prospective customers for your support over the past five years. We understand that there are many places to purchase aftermarket parts and accessories. Without your support there is no way we could have grown (and continue to grow) at such an astounding rate. We sincerely appreciate your business and we hope to be able to work with you in the years to come.

Give Us Your Feedback!!

At North American Motorsports we value your feedback. Any company can operate day in and day out in a way that they think they should. But, how do they know how they are doing? How do they know if they are serving their customers or clients to the best of their ability? This is why we turn to you, our prospective and current customers, for insight.

Please let us know how we are doing, how we can improve, and what we can offer to make your experience with us better. Your feedback can pertain to our operations, sales, product offerings, website, blog, or anything you feel is exceptional or lacking. While we enjoy a pat on the back as much as the next guy, we also realize the importance of criticism. Without criticisms we cannot improve ourselves. So, don’t be shy… let it all out!!

Welcome to the NAM Blog!!

Welcome to the North American Motorsports blog. We are opening this blog to our customers and anyone interested in the happenings here at NAM. We will be providing you with frequent news updates, as well as information on sales and shows.

In addition to this we would like to hear from you! Please feel free to comment on any of our posts, or provide us with your feedback and/or suggestions. This is your opportunity to interact directly with us in a very open format. We of course ask that you be respectful and clean, but aside from that we welcome your comments.

Announcing Opening Day: May 6, 2006!

Yup, its official! The first day of the North American Motorsports Store will be May 6th. Directions will be up soon but for now you can take a look at the map. Just make sure you mark your calendars! We’ve done a few Neuspeed chip flashes and a couple Katzkin leather installations already and feel like we’re ready to go.
Until then, check out some of the lastest pictures:

• So many boxes to put away
• Computers for shipping packages
• Finished breakroom
• Part of the finished office
• Our new display cases
• Some display racks
• Finished display cases!

Floors, Carpet, Trim, & Fixtures!

This past week was huge for us! After painting the walls and ceilings, we were able to finish off the floors with paint and carpet.

• Laying carpet
• Hallway floor
• Bathroom floor
• Closeup of floor

Then the contractor got the overhead lights, doors and windows, and trim installed along with the radiators and bathroom fixtures!

• Mostly-completed store
• Carpeted, lit & trimmed office
• Hall
• A peek into the breakroom

Paint

Well the NAM crew learned how to use paint sprayers this past weekend. It didn’t start out very well with a soaked wall and painted cars. Once we got past our idiocy and our mechanical malfunctions, it came out pretty well after all. Check it out:

• Unpainted trim (and doors and windows)
• Unpainted store
• Unpainted hallway
• First coat of primer in the store
• First coat of paint in the store - protect the ceiling!
• Painted store (and clean floors)
• Painted office (gotta get those floors clean!)
• Painted trim

Sheetrock!

A few quick pictures from last week, after the sheetrock was completed.

• Store
• Another view of the store
• Office
• Hallway

Yet another update

It’s been two weeks since the last time we took some pictures at the store, and a lot has been happening! The electrical work is just about done, and so is the plumbing. In both cases, all that’s left is the fixtures and outlets and switches themselves. It’s been great that we’ve been able to design this ourselves and so we can decide where we’re going to need power and phone lines before they’re installed.

• Cross-braces in the ceiling joists
• Scaffolding to install lights in the warehouse
• “Upstairs” above the store and office
• Wiring for the EXIT sign
• Wiring for the security system
• Plumbing in the bathroom
• Plumbing entering the furnace room
• A future radiator

More Pictures

As expected, the ceiling joists were installed last week. Sorry about the delay in new pictures but it’s been quite the week around here! This week the plumbers and the electricians are doing their thing, and then sheet-rock will be close behind.

• Back wall of the store
• Inside the office
• Back wall of the warehouse