MASATA ANNOUNCES EXPANSION TO NORTH AMERICA
For the past decade, the Masata brand has been synonymous with performance in the European aftermarket scene. From chargepipes to downpipes, their line of products have enabled thousands of vehicle owners to run at their peak performance. In particular, their chargepipes made of aircraft grade aluminium have always been a very popular ‘go-to-part’ for those who just started their modding journey. Another popular part that has been receiving rave reviews from the community are their downpipes, which from what we understand are all individually handcrafted to achieve the quality desired.
The one problem was that they have mainly focused on the European market for the past few years. If you were to search up terms such as N54 chargepipes or B58 downpipes on the popular BMW forums, chances are you would find a North American car owner lamenting about the need to pay import fees or extra shipping costs to get these Masata parts shipped over to the States or Canada direct from their base which is just South of London. Chargepipes for example, may cost an extra $30 to ship across the Atlantic – whilst not exorbitant, many would just prefer just getting it from a local dealer that offers free shipping instead.
NOW ACCESSIBLE VIA MULTIPLE USA VENDORS
It was thus no surprise that their recent announcement on expanding to the North American market was met with quite a bit of excitement from performance enthusiasts over here. At the time of writing, they have already partnered up with major distributors such as ECS Tuning and Extreme Power House. ECS in particular does seem to hold a large amount of stock from what we can see on their website, so that is bound to further increase accessibility to the Masata brand for the North American community.
N54 MASATA DUAL CONE INTAKES
We also had a chance to sample one of their best sellers – the N54 Dual Cone Intakes (DCI) that fit the very popular E Chassis 135i and 335i. The first thing that struck us was the effort put into packaging these products. These were all packaged in very aesthetically pleasing black boxes, with lots of information about the special characteristics of the Masata intake provided on the exterior packaging.
We are used to receiving many performance parts in dull and plain brown boxes that look like they can disintegrate at any time, so this was definitely a big step up in our opinion. Performance was however, of course, a top priority – what use is there for good boxes if the part does not perform? The intakes certainly do not disappoint at all and live up to the Masata brand name. The black inverted cone filters coupled with the pipes connected to the turbo inlets allow maximum possible airflow and provide almost 15+ whp gains and 8+ torque. Contrary to many proponents of a cold air intake, these DCIs do not produce any higher air intake temperatures at idle nor at wide open throttle. Installation was also a breeze, so this is certainly a part we would highly recommend if you are looking to mod your N54.
TO SUMMARIZE
To summarize, we feel that this move by Masata to finally expand to North America has been long overdue, given the immense demand for their parts in this region. These should be very popular here, given the legacy they have built over the past decade in Europe, and will certainly raise the bar as to what one defines as high-quality performance parts over here in North America.