Evolution Tuning

["Al Powell" <APOWELL@agcom.tamu.edu>]

Well well, Mr. Dave Head, you do ask interesting questions.

Dave asked about a business called Evolution Tuning, now in beautiful 
(but roasting) downtown College Station, TX....where I work.  I 
hadn't even heard the name, although I had heard a rumor that a new 
Audi hi-performance outfit was coming in.

I called Mr. Victor Franko here and got some information which is 
VERY interesting.

He started his business a few years ago in Mexico City - but it got 
so busy with walk-ins that he could hardly concentrate.  He first 
concentrated on VW products, with the Nothelle (German) line of 
"tuning" products.  This includes body parts and wheels, but also 
suspensions, chips, etc.  He says it's lot like what AMG does for 
Mercedes - they do the entire car, and the customer specifies how far 
he wants it built.  At this point, he was THE distributor for 
Nothelle in Mexico.

Mr. Franko is, it happens, a Texas Aggie (they're 
everywhere...whooop) and he made a deal with Nothelle to take all of 
North America!  And he moved HQ to College Station, leaving the 
original business still operating in Mexico.  In the process, he 
added *Audi* to his product line!  

Right now, he's testing products and making sure they have all the 
pieces sorted out for US models - for instance, he doesn't want to 
tear down an A4 and discover he needs two $10 plates which weren't in 
a kit , and the euro-versions don't work.  By this fall, he should be 
in the business of working on cars.  His national HQ will be here, 
but he will contract through dealers (VW and Audi) to do their mods 
and the cars will be brought here for the actual mods.  Again, like 
AMG does for Mercedes.  He says that by fall, there will be 26HP+ 
kits for the V-6 Audis and 96HP+ kits for the A4 Turbo.  He will also 
do camshafts, cylinder heads...you name it.

As I write this, he's negotiating with dealers across the US and 
Canada - and he's making progress.  But he doesn't really want to 
open the floodgates until he has the products tested and the dealers 
signed up.  So we're ABOUT to have a whole new option in Audi 
modifications and performance.

For those of you who must have it, his phone number is 409/693-0257.  
Calling now with questions about specific cars might be premature...
As far as I can tell, he does NOT intend to offer do-it-yourself 
kits, but I have not asked specifically about this.  OTOH, Mitch 
Loesher and I might just mosey over and see if he needs some rolling 
test cars....   :-))))  <VBG>


That's it for now, folks!!

Al Powell                           Voice:  409/845-2807
Ag Communications                   Fax:    409/862-1202
107 Reed McDonald Bldg.             Email:  a-powell1@tamu.edu 
College Station, TX  77843-2112
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