Since my last post about COR Wheels I’ve had a chance to speak with their marketing manager and things have taken a very positive upswing.
We both agree that the best way for COR to rebuild their reputation in the community is to face the topic head on and as such they have offered an exclusive interview with their CEO.
I’ve got a few questions in mind but it would be rude of me to not ask for some input so here is your chance. Very little is off limits so feel free to suggest anything that might be on your mind.
Here are a couple ideas to get things rolling:
- What’s the creative design process at COR, and describe how a wheel design goes from idea to production
- How do you feel about replica wheels in the industry, and are oem replicas any different than after-market replicas?
- In the case of the Mustang were you able to determine why the wheel in question failed?
- Why did you change the warranty after the Mustang incident
- Why did you initially decline a refund?
I plan to submit the questions early-mid next week and ideally run the interview the week after.
Look forward to your suggestions!
When you go through the design process of a wheel, what stress test do you guys put the wheels through to determine what the wheel can withstand? How often do you have to rethink a wheel design because of weak points in the wheel?
Have you ever think about closing your store? Why or why not?
* Function/strength or design—which comes first when creating a wheel? How is a balance found?
* Consumers who are attracted to certain brand or product will probably have some things in common. If possible, describe the average COR customer in any way you can. (Eg: gender, age range, parent?, car country origin, car make, car use, etc )
* Wheel companies you feel are competition?
* Wheel companies that inspire COR?
* Makes/models of vehicles you envision COR wheels on? (There are examples on the website, but this is probably meant to appeal to everyone)
* What has the Mustang incident taught you? How will this affect business going forward?
* Have you ever designed a wheel and scrapped it feeling it would not be safe/reliable? If so, how common is it?
* Do you/did you follow Jalopnik? / Anything personal against Jalopnik?
* What other car news sites/blogs do you follow?
* Show us a pic of your personal car(s). (better have CORS on them!)
* Will you please, Please, PLEASE advertise on StanceIsEverything.com and take the primo head banner space? (Josh is sick of seeing the ‘advertise here’)
* Zooey Deschanel or Emma Stone?
* Do I have enough NOS to blow myself to pieces?
What has the company learned from the Mustang incident? Any plans to make your wheels more functional and/or reliable as a result of it? Is there a change in the design process that needs to be made, or perhaps a shift in mentality at the design level?
Are you primarily car guy or a businessman?
All I ask from cor is to test their wheels. If they expect people to pay $1000 a wheel it had better durable on and off the track.
Do you (COR) use any real analysis software (Ex: ANSYS) to run scenarios on designs so destructive testing wouldnt be necessary? Are there engineers in the crew to run analysis such as this?