OV9

RIP (Apparently)..

They’re just too expensive. Just looked, a carbon rear diffuser for an M2 is £1,762. You could happily find one for a quarter of that.

Don't buy the bureaucracy angle. That's never not been the case in their entire existence, I guess they can't compete with imports from un-/less-regulated markets because their brand isn't strong enough to inspire loyalty or their products not good enough to justify the delay/cost.

They went from making somewhat nice stuff 15+ years ago to near Mansory levels of ugly recently.

For people fitting aftermarket parts to cars in Germany, isn't the TUV approval required on an ongoing basis? So you can't buy a cheap Temu copy of an ACS carbon splitter and fit it because your car ceases to be road legal in Germany. That levels the playing field unless the law is broken on a widespread basis.

Sad though. I remember V8_Chris's widebody E36 CLS very fondly.

ETA a link to Chris's old car - Techno Violet: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cjk007/al ... 064878970/

Last point is sad, but not really a surprise.

There are definitely still young CG's, but probably more of a minority than when we were that age.

My understanding is that the % of youngsters with driving licences, and the % of youngsters who would undertake a decent-distance drive is down significantly in the last 20-odd years.

I suspect that the number of ambivalent is down, and the number of anti-car youngsters is up.

The idea that people have 'moved on' after 8-9 months is bollocks too - it's not like a BMW M2 is only on sale for nine months FFS.

Sounds like they're just massively overpriced and, frankly, they look a bit shit from a styling standpoint these days.

I think the other issue they have is that BMW are already doing their own OTT styling options in house, and the ///M badge is cooler that the ACS one these days.

I’m not sure who these kids they’re talking about who can afford £10k of bodywork mods on their new cars are either - the kids who are this rich will just be driving Lambos on the never never anyway.

Combination of manufacturers offering their own stick on bits, the strange obsessions with everything needing to be carbon, cars being insanely expensive to buy in the first place...modifying cars is far more expensive than it used to be that's for sure.

Bring back the days of Full Dimma kits, Veilside and Zender.

Matty wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2026 2:28 pm Combination of manufacturers offering their own stick on bits, the strange obsessions with everything needing to be carbon, cars being insanely expensive to buy in the first place...modifying cars is far more expensive than it used to be that's for sure.

Bring back the days of Full Dimma kits, Veilside and Zender.

Plus no one “buys” cars these days, and modifying leased/PCP’d cars isn’t the best idea.

Beany wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2026 2:00 pm The idea that people have 'moved on' after 8-9 months is bollocks too - it's not like a BMW M2 is only on sale for nine months FFS.

Sounds like they're just massively overpriced and, frankly, they look a bit shit from a styling standpoint these days.

There's definitely a shifting market though. Alpina decided it was time to sell up too.

I guess the German car market being squeezed as a whole isn't going to help, which is maybe why you see companies like Recaro going under too.

mik wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2026 1:20 pm My understanding is that the % of youngsters with driving licences, and the % of youngsters who would undertake a decent-distance drive is down significantly in the last 20-odd years.

Quoting myself

CoPilot advises that approx 48% of 17-20 year olds held a driving license in the mid 90's vs approx 29% in the early 2020's. UK numbers. Blimey.

mik wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2026 3:06 pm

mik wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2026 1:20 pm My understanding is that the % of youngsters with driving licences, and the % of youngsters who would undertake a decent-distance drive is down significantly in the last 20-odd years.

Quoting myself

CoPilot advises that approx 48% of 17-20 year olds held a driving license in the mid 90's vs approx 29% in the early 2020's. UK numbers. Blimey.

So not a million miles from the percentages of 17-20 year olds going to university in those periods.

Rich B wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2026 2:43 pm

Matty wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2026 2:28 pm Combination of manufacturers offering their own stick on bits, the strange obsessions with everything needing to be carbon, cars being insanely expensive to buy in the first place...modifying cars is far more expensive than it used to be that's for sure.

Bring back the days of Full Dimma kits, Veilside and Zender.

Plus no one “buys” cars these days, and modifying leased/PCP’d cars isn’t the best idea.

Even if you do buy a car outright, people have surely realised that paying £10,000 to modify it actually reduces the resale value, not adds to it, so costs you more like £20k.

Anyone modifying with the sort of stuff that ACS have made recently probably just buys cheap tat equivalents from Temu. The car scene has changed dramatically I think with the younger gen modifying with absolute tat, and the older crows going way more custom and buying older cars.

I'd expect no fucker buying cars outright these days (compared to twenty or thirty years ago) and everyone being on a PCP deal with NO MODIFICATIONS rules can't help, either.