While many people today view the company as a specialist in gas and diesel performance products for pickups, SUVs, and motorhomes, Espino said many others remember it for its racing engines, marine engines, turbo chargers, and other products it has successfully marketed over the years.  "A lot of people have known Banks Power as something they were familiar with in their specialty area," he said.

Gale Banks, the company's founder, tracks the beginning of the company back to the day in 1958 when he sold his first rebuilt engine from his father's garage, Espino said.  Shortly after he opened C.P's Auto & Marine Parts out of a rented garage, he said.  The business was so named because all of the profits, along with those from several other jobs, were set aside for Bank's tuition at Cal Poly, Espino said.

The location and names have changed over the years as the company has grown and adjusted its product mix to follow consumer desires and market developments, he said.

The current direction began to take shape in the late 1980s, Espino said, when the company worked with General Motors to develop the first Buick Grand National motor -- a twin turbo V-6.  "They gave us a new pickup with a GM 6.2-liter diesel to use as a tow vehicle, and it could barely get out of its own way," he said, "so they started to look at what they could do to improve the truck's performance."

General Motors was also interested, Espino said, so Banks was providing data and suggestions to GM.  The result was Banks' first diesel kit, he said, a single turbo kit for the 6.2 that became a factory-installed option for the next three years until GM developed its own offering.

Working with GM again in the early '90s, Banks developed the engine for the GMC Cyclone, based on the S-10, that would become the world's fastest pickup at a speed of about 210 MPH, Espino said.

The company now offers a broad selection of products for gas and diesel pickups, SUVs, and motorhomes, Espino said, including thermal systems, turbo systems, exhaust systems, electronics, intakes, exhaust brakes, torque converters, and clutches. 

 
While products are available individually, he said the company has long focused on supplying kits of products -- level one, two, or three--that combine products to provide increasing levels of performance, depending on the vehicle owner's needs and budget.  "A lot of our competitors are only active in one of these segments," he said.

"Because we take the systems approach, we are able to test the products together to ensure that they work well together and verify performance gains," Espino said.

There is also a focus on designing kits that will install simply and include all necessary items.  "Our kits are rather complete," he said.  "We try to make it so that anyone can install it and they don't have to run to the hardware store to get anything."

While the company sells to some do-it-yourselfers, Espino said the majority of its products are sold and installed by its more than 700 dealers, ranging from performance specialists to repair shops.  Banks Power makes installation times available to allow shops to easily determine the correct amount of time to estimate.

"For a repair facility, it's another profit center," he said.  "You can only up sell a service so far.  This gives you another avenue to increase revenue and meet your customer's needs.  The majority of this is stuff that shops already have the knowledge and the tools to do."

While the focus for many years has been on how much power can be gained, Espino said a large part of the attention is now on a long-time fringe benefit of the many of their products -- improved fuel economy.  In many cases, he said, the company's products improve fuel economy while also increasing horsepower and torque by helping the powertrain run more efficiently.

For instance, he said, the company's OttoMind 6 Tuner now includes a mileage setting in addition to its power settings.  "A person who is towing isn't really interested in roasting their tires," he said.  "They are happy with moderate improvement in horsepower and torque and better fuel economy."

Espino said that like all of the company's products, the tuners are designed to provide maximum performance gains but only within the range of what can be achieved without damaging the vehicle.  "When we're making these products, we try to do what we call honoring the host," he said.  "It doesn't pay to get ridiculous power if you do it in a way that breaks the vehicle."

Unlike a programmer, which delivers a new set of instructions to the ECU, which then dictates how the vehicle operates under all conditions, the tuner sits between the ECU and the powertrain and allows the driver to adjust the setting to meet the vehicle's use at that time.  The setup also allows the tuner to override the program if the vehicle is struggling, Espino said. 

"Since we're in line with everything, if the tuner sees that the vehicle is getting outside of its normal temperature range or that the clutch is slipping, it will reduce power to protect the vehicle," he said.  "That's one of the things that we do that nobody else really does."

To ensure that the company's products are delivering value to the users and are among the best offered, Espino said the company regularly tests its products against the vehicle's stock components and as many competitors as it can find.  He pointed to a stack of competitors' air intake products as an example.  He said recent tests of seven competing units had revealed that only the Banks unit and one other had improved the vehicle's performance.  Most of the products had actually reduced the vehicle's performance, he said.  The company is now using data of that type in much of its marketing, he said.

Espino said the tuners and air intakes are among the company's most popular products right now.

Espino said that while motor-home performance products may seem to be a bit of an oxymoron at first, it has actually been a strong segment for the company and offers an opportunity for shops to tap into a segment that often has disposable income and appreciates the performance improvements.

"Of all of the vehicles on the road, they may be the ones that most need to improve power and efficiency," he said.  "You basically start out with an engine and cooling system meant for a van, and then you put a house on top of it and tell people they should load in all of their stuff and tow their boat behind it." 

 
The market opportunity is proven out by the fact that one of Banks' largest dealers is a national group of motor-home service and supply centers, Espino said.

By identifying emerging niches and offering quality products that do what they say they will, Banks Power has grown to occupy eight buildings, most located at a 12-acre facility in Azusa, and employ more than 200 people, Espino said. 

To ensure that the products install the way the say they will, he said the company operates a five-bay installation center, with two more outdoor bays for working on motor homes.  The facility includes five Mohawk 12,000-pound above-ground lifts and two 44,000-pound drive-on lifts for motor homes, all of which were supplied by Service Tech Tool & Equipment, he said.

If an installer runs into a snag installing a system, he can get one of the designers from across the street to look at it and make sure that any needed changes are immediately designed into the kit, Espino said.

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