Nichola Beckford/Contributor

A common misconception about the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) is that it’s just vehicles. Not so. The SEMA caters to every aspect of the automotive aftermarket, including services and goods. This is evident in SEMA’s annual New Product Awards which serves to highlight the most innovate and cutting edge automotive aftermarket products of the year.

Products are spread across 18 categories. In each category, there is one winner, and two runners-up. More exciting is that these items they are on display on the show floor for SEMA attendees to browse and interact where possible. That’s because seeing is believing, or in the case of one of the most talked about new products, hearing is believing.

Electric vehicles are already a divisive topic, so it came as no surprise that, among the 18 2022 SEMA New Product Awards victors, the Active Performance Sound from Borla Performance caught some serious attention when it won the Best Electric Vehicle Product category. Online comments have ranged from ‘pretty damn cool…, except I’m 100% anti-ev’, to ‘stupidest device ever… just buy a real V8’.

This hasn’t stopped David Borla, vice president, sales & marketing — Borla Performance, from being encouraged by the more positive reception to his product, including the SEMA award.

“It’s a huge honour to win, to be recognised by the media, and to be the first ones to win this particular award that’s something they’ll never be able to take away from us. We’ll always be the first ones to win this. It’s a testament to the spirit of our company,” said a thankful Borla.

The connection to the hullabaloo begins with that name, Borla. Borla, the company, is synonymous with American muscle and is one of the top automotive exhaust system makers in the world, having more than four decades experience manufacturing and pioneering technology in the field. Borla is a literal legend in the aftermarket performance exhaust space.

So, why has a company responsible for enhancing the sound and performance of the traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) made a product that adds exhaust noise to electric vehicles?

“We always want to be innovative and try new things. The fact that we were able to do something that resonated with performance seekers of all kinds, and people alike,” he said.

One of the major criticisms of EVs is that, despite their extreme levels of speed, they lack the involvement of traditional cars, especially the sportier models. Even Borla admits this, but that’s where his SEMA Show award-winning product comes into play, restoring that aural excitement for EV drivers

“For maybe more than five years people have been coming to us saying they’re really missing that sort of visceral connection, sporty driving experience with their EV.

The Active Performance Sound (APS) was created to address that criticisms. The APS is a mesh of software and hardware built to the same high-quality standard as any other Borla product. Physically, it’s a pair of 6×9 speakers, and a computer to run things, and an OEM spec wiring harness to connect everything together as if it came from the factory. A few other small pieces makes sure the installation is seamless. The speakers are placed in a secure space underneath the car that allows the sound to naturally flow out of the nooks and crannies of the chassis. The control unit is connected to the vehicle, and can be run right from the infotainment system or via a phone app. The app offers a significant amount of flexibility. The APS is loaded with professional recordings of ICE vehicles equipped with actual Borla exhaust systems.

At the Borla Performance SEMA booth, a demonstration car — a Ford Mustang Mach-E – was fitted with APS. Once operational, turning on the car resulted in an eerily familiar and accurate idle, only offset by the realisation that the vehicle emitting the noise shouldn’t be doing so. Borla said the aim was to avoid that cheap fake sound.

The full scope of APS has it behaving exactly like an ICE car, having an algorithm that even simulates hitting redline, burbles, and pops. The system uses real-time data to accurately match the status of an EV motor. Users have full control, making them able to alter parameters such as volume, or even switch to exhaust notes from other vehicles.

As groundbreaking and demanding as Active Performance Sound from Borla Performance is, the public is going to have to wait a while as the entire first production run has been sold to the company’s long-time partner, Ford vehicle tuners, Shelby.

“All the first products are going on Shelby cars. They bought everything we could make right now, so we don’t even have anything available for the traditional aftermarket until maybe February 2023.”

The system at this point is only available for the Mustang Mach-E, with plans for the F-150 Lightning, the electric Chevy Silverado, and Hummer EV in the works.

ICE burble tune fanboys, watch out.