Really only relevant to people with VW/Audi vehicles as I don't think they mess with anything else. Sounds like their R8 race team bankrupted the company and they are up to all sorts of shady shit.
AudiBoost - APR's reputation takes a major tumble - What the Audizine and VWVortex Audi/VW forums don't want you to read and the RSC exhaust scandal
AudiBoost - APR's reputation takes a major tumble - What the Audizine and VWVortex Audi/VW forums don't want you to read and the RSC exhaust scandal
APR's reputation takes a major tumble - What the Audizine and VWVortex Audi/VW forums don't want you to read and the RSC exhaust scandal
Published on 12-09-2014 03:55 AM 24 Comments Comments
APR is the giant of the VAG (Volkswagen Auto Group) aftermarket tuning industry. They are flat out huge and being huge means you have quite a bit of power. It may be cliche but with great power does come great responsibility and it certainly appears that APR has abused their standing in the community in the name of profit.
What is going on exactly? Well, there have been some big changes at APR. Monetary issues cropped up (hey, racing teams are expensive) at APR and it looks like they tried to squeeze profit wherever they could. Their measures perhaps were not enough as APR was sold to Mangrove Equity. We probably do not have to tell you that an equity firm probably does not care quite as much about automotive enthusiasm as they do profits. Regardless, they had the money and APR did not.
Here is a quick synopsis that you can come to your own conclusion on:
'Stephen Hooks has indeed surrendered his majority shareholding to Mangrove Equity 5 months ago. Reason, sadly, is pretty simple. No other financing avenues left to APR other than to sell out ownership in order to raise cash to keep the company going.
Most of what's been already said here is true. Motorsport team was completely disbanded last year after loosing a great deal of money (7 figures..) in the year the R8 was run. The workshop is entirely closed down recently, all the techs have been laid off/left. Court case with Audi of America over the unpaid R8 race-car bills. They've just lost the court case against VWR for unpaid bills last week. But overall the financial story is just really bad financial management over a long period of time, visible to all of us on the inside. Think we'd all agree that the engineering and brand marketing has always been APRs strength, but the financial control, business sense and maybe arrogance of the company's exec team has led to this.
It's been a long story over 24 months of simultaneously keeping up a public image of more and more expensive cars, motorsport, company jet, building expansion, lavish show presence, extravagant projects and just vanity tbh - yet leaving a trail of unpaid debts with suppliers, laying off staff, cuts to product investment, struggling for cash on a daily basis. All the company's assets are financed and refinanced, credit cards are maxed, loans taken from every source and 2 years of searching for investment have led APR to have no remaining options to secure the cash to finance the day to day operations. Sadly Hooks had to let the majority of his shares go in exchange for this cash injection.
The Mangrove Equity team have clearly seen an opportunity to 'grab' a good brand and good engineering team - but CEO Hooks, plus COO (Hook's best friend Johnny Petrina) have been relieved of duties, and had all management and budgetary control removed from them effective immediately. It's the classic corporate raid. Of course Hooks retains his minority shareholding and will remain in some figurehead capacity.
Speculation in the building is now that we will cut back on the non-profitable hardware lines, concentrate on the profitable remaps. And kill dead the extravagant lifestyle that the company has been providing its exec team at the expense of staff and suppliers.
Don't doubt that APR will probably have a bright future under Mangrove. Just very different and with a sensible business approach.'
That is quite a bit to soak in but this story hardly ends there. As APR seemed to be pressed for cash they also seemingly decided to increase their exhaust prices while dropping the quality. They used cheaper materials and apparently engaged in false advertising.
A guy by the name of crew219 did a hell of an investigative job regarding the APR exhausts. Here is what he uncovered:
'APR has long prided themselves on using T304L stainless, often claiming it as the best out of the T304 options. “L” designates lower carbon content vs “H” which stands for higher carbon content.
Why is it that APR would suddenly remove the 304L designation from their website and simply call it “low carbon stainless steel”? That answer is simple: APR has been swapping in 409 stainless to lower costs. You can see a clear example of it here: on a Stage 3 MK6 GTI.
The short flex section is 304L, the midpipe with the cat is 409 stainless. You can clearly see the differences in surface corrosion between the two pieces (never mind the admissions I have from both current and former APR employees)'
'Well why is this an issue?
When originally released, the RSC was advertised as a 304L Stainless system. You can see it in their release on their website as well as on forum pages. '
So according to the photo evidence the material advertised is not being used and in addition to that the price was marked up, not dropped.
If the allegation is true, that is a major breach of trust and quite simply false advertising.
We wish it ended there but it does not as the advertised RSC systems were cut open. The idea behind an RSC (Reflective Sound Cancellation) system is to eliminate drone.
Ok, seems simple. APR had Corsa (who no longer is involved with APR and you are welcome to guess why) build their systems and of course bragged on the various forums about incorporating the technology:
So what is the problem? Well, somebody cut open one of the exhaust systems that APR claimed to have the RSC technology.
This picture speaks for itself:
If it looks bad that is because it is bad. The exhaust is just stuffed with cheap fiberglass.
This is not a one time thing, other exhausts were cut open.
B8 A4 2.0 exhaust system:
'This is the center muffler on the B8 A4 “RSC” exhaust. The front resonator is a standard perforated core resonator (No RSC). The center muffler also does not contain RSC. What you see instead is a Helmholtz style resonator (hole in pipe venting to an empty muffler chamber) as well as a small quarter wave resonator. Again, there is no RSC, but it is labeled as such by APR as having the RSC design. The rear section is also said to not contain RSC, but that will have to be verified by photos.'
'APR also makes a stink about this B8 A4 exhaust having smooth bends and transitions. As you can clearly see from the muffler cutaway, the bends and transitions are anything but smooth.'
Well, things do not exactly look good do they? If all is true as quoted this is flat out theft. The sad part is that this is just the tip of the iceberg.
There are tales of unpaid patent fees. There are tales of debts owed (apparently a bit of money to Corsa as well who is just trying to cover their own behind at this point and not agitate APR so they get the money they are allegedly owed). Links to this information began disappearing from VWVortex and Audizine as APR flexed its sponsor mu$cle:
Notice the asterisks? This network is very familiar with those. The big forums who are now all about the money prevent links to the little forum that is all about telling the whole story. We sympathize with AudiRevolution as we have been in those same shoes more times than we would like to count.
The BoostAddict network and its VAG sites AudiBoost.com and VWBoost.com have no dog in this fight. All we want is for our members to get what they pay for from tuners. That really should not be too much to ask. We do not expect members to have to start cutting open exhaust systems or hiring personal investigators just to figure out if they are not getting the product they paid for.
Members should not have to start petitions either to get refunds if they were not sent the product advertised. Seriously, not even joking: https://www.change.org/p/apr-refund-...share_petition
This all is far from over but we want our members to know we will stand up for what is right. This will not be deleted. We hope everyone gets what they paid for or at the very least a refund. APR may be the biggest VAG tuner and they may have bought off the biggest Audi/VW forums around. However, even they are not big enough to buy off everyone.
