New Aftermarket ST202/205 tail lights, interest level poll Options

[6gtfour]

Thinking about doing a run of aftermarket tails for the ST202/205 since the only thing that looks out of place with the projectors and crystal indicators/signals is the tail lights. Trying to get some feedback as to price acceptance. well show 2 possible options soon. lights will cost USD $250. If 30 people show interest and are accept the price we will make the tail lights.

[6gtfour]

I should have finished the design already but work has me swamped so far this week. I will post it up soon though. For those of you who are interested in the LED design I had this discussion with another ST205 owner and we came up with 3 reasons in favor of avoiding an LED tail light.

1. Despite the fact that nothing is more sexy than LEDs in a tail light, I have never seen an aftermarket LED tail light that didn't have a few blown LEDs after a period of usage (it even happens to our local traffic lights). When that happens if you're like me and you won't tolerate that "dead pixel" look in your lights you'll probably have to replace the entire lamp with new ones. Which brings me to reason 2.

2. The cost of manufacturing LED tail lights in comparison to the standard bulb type is significantly greater. They will cost me several thousand dollars more to produce and then if the general feeling is that the retail price is too high I would be stuck with them on my hands. So to be honest it is unlikely that I will do the lights with LEDs at least
for my own selfish reason of not wanting to get stuck with them on my hands for a long period of time.

3. I have to check with the ST202 owners to confirm that this affects them too but in the ST205 celica there is a light that illuminates on the dashboard whenever a tail light bulb goes out. I have yet to confirm this but I am almost completely certain that LEDs in the tail lights will trigger this warning light. I'm also quite certain that circuitry in the tail lamp can easily fix this problem but again at an elevated cost.

Most people want "plug and play" solutions from the aftermarket and what I prefer is to provide a "plug and play" modern looking tail lamp that preserves the image of the celica while enhancing its natural beauty. The OEM projector / crystal headlamps do a perfect job of this. So do the auto art crystal side repeaters and indicators. I'm not going to ruin that image by making the car look like a honda civic from behind or even a porsche or aston martin. I know many will not appreciate my reasoning but I don't need many people I just need 30 people to accept the price and eventual design to give me the go ahead to manufacture them.

This post has been edited by 6gtfour: Jul 25, 2012 - 4:23 PM