About Cyberspace Automotive Performance, Inc.
Mission
The mission of Cyberspace Automotive Performance, Incorporated, is to develop business relationships in all levels of the automotive performance industry, maintaining efficiency in the international marketplace, and focusing on profit for all partners.
Vision
Our vision is to build upon the current strong foundation of automotive websites established by Cyberspace Automotive Performance by
- developing additional websites focusing on specific niches in the market,
- establishing relationships with existing automotive-related websites,
- continuing to establish direct relationships with key vendors that we market,
- expanding our wholesale distribution branch to become the US leader in Electronic Commerce order fulfillment, and
- making maximum utilization of electronic commerce interfaces between ourselves, our partners, our customers, and our suppliers.
Values
Our corporate values are
- integrity of our people,
- discipline to our processes, and
- loyalty between us and our partners.
Relationships
Our Relationships
- will be synergistic, with each entity stronger individually because of the others;
- will be multifaceted, with ownership, partnership, franchising, leasing and others being considered based on the needs of each entity; and
- will be established in manufacturing, distribution, retail sales, and advertising.
Key Players
Christopher P. Myer, President - Chris founded Cyberspace Automotive Performance in 1993 when the use of the Internet for E-Commerce was still a very controversial idea. As an innovator in E-Commerce and founder of the first automotive parts business on the Internet, Chris has been the subject of several articles and his work referenced frequently by several Internet consultants. In addition to his responsibilities at Cyberspace Automotive, Chris is a husband, father of three children, board member of several corporations, and an active participant in several social welfare programs. Before the completion of his bachelor's degree in computer science and master's degree in electrical engineering, Chris enlisted in the Florida Army National Guard in which he is currently a battalion commander holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Thomas Julien, Chief Information Officer - Tom has played an intrumental role in the development of the technology infrastruction that has enabled Cyberspace Automotive Performance since its founding. Widely known for his prowess in Internet protocol, UNIX and Microsoft system administration, Tom has been pivotal in the decisions that have brought the company to this zenith in its growth. Besides his technical ability, Tom is also a devoted musician, and contributes his percussion abilities to his band's weekend gigs.
John Fakatselis, Board Member - John has played a critical role at Cyberspace Automotive Performance since 1999 as coach and mentor. He has extensive background and has held numerous management and business development positions in the high technology industry. John is responsible for developing strategic alliances and facilitating corporate mergers and new business acquisitions. John is serving as chairman of an international standards committee for the wireless communications. He serves as advisory board member for several companies including a high tech investment venture capital firm. John's strategic thinking and organizational skills, as well as his venture and industry contacts are a valuable asset to Cyberspace Automotive Performance.
History
Early Days: Cyberspace Automotive Performance dates back to 1993, which was virtually the dawn of the world-wide web. At a time when people were still browsing the web with a program called NCSA Mosaic, Chris Myer realized the potential for selling product via the Internet. As surprising as it seems now, his efforts were strongly resisted by many who viewed the Internet as something that would be wrong to allow to become commercial.
Cyberspace Automotive Performance started as the first online auto parts business and one of the very first e-commerce businesses. At a time when shopping carts were unheard-of and no efficient means were available to put the massive databases of automotive part information on the website, CAP began by just building web pages that discussed the different parts available from a given manufacturer, then asked browsers to email their information to receive a quote.
As individuals would ask about parts for a given make and model, the staff at CAP would consolidate this information into a simple text file so that it would not have to be researched again for the next customer with the same automobile. Eventually, these lists became complete enough to be published to the website as "shopping lists". To see these lists in their original format, Click Here. While some of the products listed in these shopping lists are still available, no effort is made at maintaining them, so the prices are outdated. They are provided here as a historical perspective into the background of our industry.
In 1995, Frank Bohanan of The Specialty Equipment Manufacturer's Association (SEMA) found Cyberauto.Com on the Internet, and was intrigued enough to call and invite CAP to join SEMA. SEMA is the organization that serves the interests of the automotive specialty equipment industry. As president, Chris Myer attended the SEMA conference in Las Vegas that year, taking a laptop computer with a copy of the CAP website. He visited each manufacturer to show them the website he had developed for each of them. Their response ranged from bewilderment (none of them had ever even heard of the "world-wide web"), to amazement, to anger (the president of one company threatened to sue CAP for putting his information on the Internet.)
Expanding Growth: Cyberspace Automotive Performance continued to expand, and the company was moved into its Ellis Road facility in November of 1998. In 2000, Chris was approached by then-owner of Alamo Motorsports Troy Talamantez about buying the retail portion of that company, including it's website, to allow Troy to focus on his wholesale buiness. This purchase was effected in January of 2001, and Alamo Motorsports moved from it's second home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to co-locate with Cyberspace Automotive Performance in Melbourne, Florida. (Alamo Motorsports had formerly been in Texas, and was originally assocaited with what is now Alamo Autosports.) A few months later, CAP moved into it's current home in historic downtown Melbourne, Florida. Here is a link to the previous version of the Cyberspace Automotive Performance website.
CAP began to explore the benefits of other types of e-commerce infrastructures. The Alamo Motorsports website brought to CAP a shopping cart capability that was not available in the early Cyberauto.Com. CAP investigated Yahoo stores and engaged Rob Snell of Y-Store.Com to develop the companies first niche-marketing website. In April of 2002, Racing-Seats-USA.Com was born. This attempt was so successful that a second effort was launched and Rob Snell completed Fuel-Pumps.Net in October of 2002. Also launched late in 2002 was the Hyundai Performance Store, a collaborative effort between CAP and the Hyundai Performance content site. The outcome of these new additions to CAP resulted in the corporation's first annual revenue in excess of $1M. Please visit the page about our websites to learn more about these individual profit centers.
Current Projects
CoxImports.Com Acquisition: On May 25, 2007, Cyberspace Automotive Performance proudly added CoxImports.Com to our constellation of automotive performance websites. Currently, we are busily adding improvements to it's strong basic infrastructure to make it work better for our customers.
WIG Engine Development: In mid-2006, we were approached about using our background and relationships in the airboating industry and Chevrolet LS Engine Development to design and produce an engine for use by the Korean Oceanographic Research and Development Institute on their Wing-In-Ground (WIG) Craft. Learn more about that project here!
