[fixer]

So I called over to Bill Smulo from BSE today to see if we could borrow his AWD tiburon that he built for our next BBQ.

I was suprised, let down, confused, saddend...generaly PISSED off to hear what I was told. Hyundai is going to crush this beautiful car that he sunk his own time and $ into. From what I heard, about $100,000 + .

I questioned him why Hyundai would crush this car. He wasnt too sure what to say. I cant think of WHY Hyundai would. I mean....come on.....

kind of makes you wonder about things. They keep pushing back the launch or the aftermarket parts from Bill...released as HARD parts, So I dont know if its EVER going to happen. Bill has spent close to 4 years of R&D on the turbo ktis, suspension, NA Header set ups....all on his own. No support from Hyundai. Eh..sorry, I'm venting cause I'm pissed, I could hear how this was depressing him. Pictue someone coming to you, saynig, "ok, thanks for building this car, we'er going to crush it". Boom..thats it.

I'm really @ a loss for words right now. Bill has shown his support to the Hyundai community and us localy. He has come to hang out with us. A really cool down to earth guy that has some really quality high end stuff for our cars.

I dont know if we could save this car by posting up here, I know HMA reads this baord, but I want to try to save it if possible. Heck, maybe even email product planning or anyone @ HMA and try to save this car. Not only save the car, but bring out the HARD parts by BSE that we've been wanting for a while now. Its good, damn good stuff. If I had a 2.0 I would have had it on my car by now.

HYUNDAI GIVE US THE SUPPORT YOU WANTED TO GIVE US. PLEASE DONT JUST SHOW US WHAT YOU HAD IN MIND AND THEN PULL IT OUT.

Look @ your customer base, you have XD's, LC's, GK's auto crossing. We are finaly starting to see the name recognized as a good tuner car. Companies are actually building good quality parts for us. The stigma that came with the Hyundai name is going away.

But yeah, I dont know what else to say...I can only hope things change with whats going on...I dont like what I've been hearing.

If you would like to send an email to he VP of Parts and the Head of Product Planning, here are the addresses.

Bob Cosmai
CEO Hyundai USA
Bcosmai@hmausa.com

Scott Margarson-Product Planning
Smargason@hmausa.com

VP of Parts
Frank Ferrara
Fferrara@hmausa.com

To the best of my knowledge, those are the correct emails. If they are not I will update as soon as I can.

But here are some pics......

The car is a V6, Turbo'd, AWD like mentiond. Custom Exhaust, Full Cage, Rae suspension, Fuel Cell, Sparco seats, the custom paint job....
Full Big Brakes front and rear...
The Man that has built us some BAD ASS parts

 

[OriginalJerseyBoy]

that's truly a sad thing to hear it's pretty much telling all tiburon owners that they don't give a damn about our opinions and support.

 

[RandomHero]

Wasnt this the car that was in super street or import tuner, then magicly became the BSE show piece?

 

[fixer]

It was allways BSE's car...he built the AWD system in it. the car used to be silver.

 

[Quartermaster]

Who do we email to *politely* request that Hyundai not crush what should be their parts program flagship car? This is the most demoralizing move they could possibly make, are they turning their backs to the tuner community as a whole? That's the feeling this certainly communicates... that aint cool...

So many people discredit the Tiburon in particular as a slow fat car right off the bat before you even tell them about it. If the Hyundai tuner community had near the kind of factory backing that Toyota, Nissan, Honda or Mitsubishi has, we'd be on the map too, with a much better brand image - especially among tuners. Just having that support available would suddenly change the general public's first response to the name "Hyundai".

If Hyundai wants to stick to bread & butter family sedans that's their perogative as a company, but they're leaving an entire community out in the cold that contains not only paying customers, but potentially very valuable publicity that the company can profit from as others have.

 

[Silverlining]

That's horrible news, thanks for letting us know!!!
Please don't crush the car, HYUNDAI!!! Sell it and donate the funds to SL's desperation account....., just kidding........lol
Seriously, we have waited a very long time to see these parts get made and distributed and people work very hard to get Hyundai positive recognition. They need to reciprocate on the investment of time, money and enthusiasm that has been sowed by owners, custom designers, and parts developers who deserve to reap what they have so generously sown.
Please keep us updated on this. There is no reason to crush a perfectly good car. Do you realize how many are struggling just to hang on to theirs? That's very irresponsible and wasteful.
Bill, I hope this turns around for you and for the whole tiburon community.

 

[philm00x]

dammit that's gay... BSE has been 0wning thus far and hyundai would be so gay to crush that car.

 

[Mines Better]

WTF?!?!

...can i have the orange?

 

[krnxwestsider]

first off...i dont know why HMA will crush the tib?? does it belong to them or bill??
if HMA reads this.. reconsider what you're about to do.. why destroy the tib, Bill has put in his effort, time, and his own money into this project.. there are so many options other than crushing this amazing tiburon.. use this as a promotion car.. if there is no use for HMA.. then give it back to bill.. i am sure he will be more than glad to see his car the way he built it to be.. seriously though.. release the HARD parts.. i can say that most if not all our members would be happy to see some good aftermarket parts..there is a large tiburon community in the country..we support u and will keep on supporting.. in return show us some support.. and seriously reconsider what you're about to do with the BSE tib..

 

[CableTec]

I am amazed that Hyundai would have the lack of foresight to crush such a nicely built car.......what is the use of crushing it? I can think of so many uses for the car besides just scrapping it. If Hyundai wastes this Tib, then the Tib I own currently will be the last I ever buy. I love my Tib, but I'll move on to a car that has a much better performance program initiative than Hyundai seems interested in providing. They obviously want to keep the family sedan/econobox image going. It is sad considering how many Tibs that are out there.

 

[Red2.0Tib]

HMA is crushing the Tib for the same reason they crushed RRM's Tib, it was a pre-production model and ALL of those cars regardless of the company must be destroyed. There are various reasons for it, but all of the major automakers do it. Sucks that they have to crush this car, but at least he can take off the the parts and use them on another car.

 

[Twilight]

I'm not sure I understand, if he built the parts and it's BSE's car, how does Hyundai have the right to crush it?

 

[SEAN]

what a beautiful car to destroy...

 

[tuscaniblu3]

I'm seriously confused about how HMA even had the legal right to crush this tib, if Bill has paid for everything. I don't understand.

Either way, it would be sad and to use QM's phrase, demoralizing to the tib community if this unique example of a heavily modified tib were to be destroyed. I can't fathom why any car manufacturer wouldn't want this tib to represent for them.

 

[movaltiburon]

no way . i have seen this car in person and its a work of art. any way we can all put it to save it or anything we can do to help? this car way to nice to crush

 

[CFTuca]

steal it... then use the parts on another gk

 

[hoffa79]

what a beatiful car to destroy...

i concur......if you have a heart you wouldnt be able to destroy it.........even if you thought it was ugly, you should appreciate the time, effort, and money that has gone into it.......only to crush it into oblivion (pun intended)

 

[indafastln]

if it's a pre-production i dont think there's anything anyone can do to prevent the crunching

but like red2.0 said, he can take the parts off before they destroy it

maybe this thread should be aimed at hyundai providing BSE with a very discounted new tiburon so he can start another buildup!

 

[TNT]

They could at least reimburse him the amount of money he put into it.

Even if you just bought a tiburon, still stock, and for whatever reason hyundai wanted to crush it, it would be no different. The principle still stands.

Btw, they are retarded. I've never seen any car company do this before.

 

[acarzt]

That's a damn shame... such a beautiful car.

I really don't know what else to say to that....