By: Matt Vallez
It is not often that an idea comes along that is so good it changes the way we do business. Something that is so simple and easy and makes stocking and selling a custom product ten times easier than it was before. I know exactly what most everyone will say, either out loud or at least in their own mind, “why didn’t I come up with that”? What that is, is the new Tampa G “Chameleon” a breakthrough in custom Sunbrella®/Outdura® technology that just made everything about Sunbrella®/Outdura® a little easier! It allows you to install the enclosure and the accent valance separately. That’s correct the valance is a separate part from the enclosure they are not sewn together, instead assembled on the car. This makes the whole coordinating thing a lot easier, because the decision is not a one time permanent decision; now you can change your mind later.
This breakthrough came about the time when Nivel, LLC was in the first days of working with Tampa G on a stocking program for the Sunbrella®/Outdura® enclosure line. The question came up first, can we manufacture enclosures without valances and sew them on later, per order? That would be fine if you are manufacturing and distributing out of the same locations. Unfortunately that would remove one of Nivel’s great strengths, multiple warehouses for fast delivery. The ultimate answer was the “Chameleon” which is a tract style enclosure with an interchangeable valance that allows you to order, stock and promote virtually any combination of base enclosure and valance. Now when considering what to stock in Sunbrella®/Outdura® enclosures you only need to think of the base color and what golf car it should fit on. The valance can be stocked in any solid and also the many different stripes that we are all familiar with. The other great thing about this if someone becomes bored of the way their Sunbrella®/Outdura® enclosure looks they can easily change it.
The significant thing here is that products with a 4 to 6 week delivery time, which is that of a custom Sunbrella®/Outdura® enclosure made today, is now something that with a small investment can be a stocking item at the dealer level. Or, if the dealer would prefer not to stock them, can be delivered from Tampa G / Nivel inventory in just a few days. This reminds me of when Alltrax introduced the programmable controller in early 2000’s. It was a game changer for a dealer to stock one of each amperage controller and be able to make it work on any golf car. The ability to have a 400 amp controller on the shelf and program it for use in Club Car, E-Z-GO or Yamaha as well as Columbia and Taylor-Dunn to this day is a great feature. Unfortunately with the proliferation of sepex motors, which require dedicated controllers this feature is not as revilement is it was a when first introduced. It is nice to see an improvement in how we do things, and this new “Chameleon” is just one of those milestone improvements.
Think to yourself of an enclosure you own now, or had for too long because no one wanted it based on the color combination. This problem is now removable, as long as the bottom color of the enclosure is acceptable, which all of our stocking enclosures are in the acceptable color range, we can’t help you if you special order pink or purple. Now, back to this example, you have a new “Chameleon” enclosure that a customer ordered with a certain striped valance, the guy takes it home to surprise his wife, the problem is the wife doesn’t like it. So he comes back the next day to return it. Instead of putting the enclosure back into inventory and hope that someone with a Yamaha G2 with a Denver top comes into your store soon, you can just change the valance, yourself. Better yet, you can take the order for a valance that he or more accurately his wife, wants and have it within a few days for him to pick up. No more dead inventory. Let us know what you think about the new “Chameleon” as you can tell I think it is revolutionary idea.
