i wouldn't complain too much about ppl buying knockoffs. 90% of the ppl on this site have replica bumpers, lips, trunks...ect

it's just something a business has to live with.

 

Not this cat. I know I'd be plenty pissed if I came up with a wicked design and then somebody made a cheap knockoff that cut into my sales. Plus with most knockoffs you get poor performance, bad fitment, etc.

That's not to say some of the 'replicas' you can buy on this site and elsewhere are not of good quality.

And 42.7% of statistics are made up on the spot.

 

:jamin:

 

I love how people hate on knockoff ****. Sure some of it is junk and has no place being sold. But for people like ME who have a limited budget, sometimes its the only way we can go. Then again I wont go and buy something I KNOW will explode instantaneously. There will always be people on both sides of the fence, its a companies decision if they dont want to fight an uphill battle. I cant blame them. In HKS' position, its not going to hurt their business much as the people who pay to play will still come to them.

 

I just had a dispute as to why knockoffs and fake parts are no good so I'm not going to get into that again for at least another week or two.

Guys, HKS has not stopped production, they have shut down their American office because they don't want to deal with the stupid North Americans. HKS is still in business.

 

ChargeSpeed rear for coupe with that carbon bolt on center panel (sexiness I know) authentic I wanna say like ($1400+) + paint and prep. Got into an accident got the CS rep and insurance paid for the respray (shouts out to Strafe)...Jus sayin'

4DGs has a very strong point saying fake sales are detrimental to the original manufacturers, and I'm totally with it, however exterior body pieces are the only and really ***THE ONLY*** realm of mods where I make the exception, only because $3500 for raw body panels from Chargespeed+ not to mention painting them is almost comedic to me.

 

I'm not a fan of knock offs either but when I looked into an HKS axle back (basically a muffler) for my 04' sedan it was $600.+, that IMO is a high price to pay for a muffler.

 

I'll side with knock-offs on most parts of the car. Not on wheels, brakes, turbo etc. But on mid-exhaust, random solid bits with no moving parts, aero, etc ect I'm fine with it.

The question that needs to be asked is why do people sell knock offs? Because the only way to buy them is by having good distribution.

I sell lots of knock offs and do not bother selling hks, greddy etc. Even though I can get it.

Reason being; knock offs are not only better priced for the end user but also have much better margins for merchants, better warranty and post-purchase support (partially on account of better margins throughout the distribution chain) and are often of comparable quality to the original.

HKS and their peers have **** distribution, **** service and are way over priced. They enjoy similar manufacturing costs in that they also off-shore a great deal of production and don't over estimate R&D costs. You carry over most of the R&D on most parts from earlier products. A lot of it is pure common sense too. The OE did all the real R&D... HKS and the like just redid the OE parts don't forget.

Because of that it makes no sense to spend $900 on an HKS part where the lower production replica costs half that... You're paying the cost of poor distribution and magazine ads... That's non-value add every day of the week.

If these guys knew how to run proper companies they wouldn't be pulling out and blaming copies. They would have taken control of the copy market / low end clients, before it became an issue.

They deserve to be hurting

 

Well said bing240sx, if you can't handle competition you shouldn't have started selling in North America in the first place. Did they honestly believe people were going to continue to buy their high priced items for ever without any competition?

 

So you're saying that the x02 HKS replica made from recycled tin foil (deemed HKS rep by the manufacture) is the same quality per buck as the 100% stainless HKS exhaust with legit welds and true burnt tips?

I came out of blockbuster the other day to a guy looking at my car, we started talking turns out he has a 350z and he had a bunch of questions for me, I walked over to take a look at the car. he tells me he has Volk Te37s, HKS Hi power, etc etc. I get to the car and he has Varrstoens and the x02 exhaust.

This hurts the manufacture over and over again and there is no getting around it. It is what it is.

Your car is only as legit as the parts used to build it.

 

Blaine, have you seen my Ferrari Enzo???

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FoXyvaPSnV...400/77d6_1.JPG

 

LOL^^^^^

The only thing that I have is replica are Varrstoens, mainly for the fact that I cant justify spending $5000 on real Volks when I do not even track my car. I get the awesome offsets and rim width same look at 1/5 the price.

I think the main reason why Blain gets mad is because ppl rock replicas as though they were authentic. And constantly claim to be authentic. Unfortunately though that is the reality in this industry. I think its all on the owner of the car.

I really dont mind telling ppl I have Varrstoens, because really I dont care, the stance on my Z looks amazing and thats what matters to me. Again it is my car not anyone elses.

But it does bother me when ppl go around claiming they have volks when they really dont. Or any other replica parts for that matter

 

^ Yes and no. I'm fine with people running varrtsoens even though I personally never would. The people that claim that they have baller volks when they don't **** me off pretty hard.

But I just don't stand for ripping **** off, if you designed something great and the next day someone designed the same thing and took credit for it, you'd be pissed and that's all there is to it. Treat others the way you would want to be treated, be it a company, a person whatever. the argument of "well that company has enough money as is" is stupid. They made the products give them the respect they deserve and buy the product they designed and made.

I support authenticity, if you don't that's cool but just know you are not contributing to the scene, you're only taking from it.

 

I cant fully agree or disagree with you....but I definitely do see your points.

I find though when it comes down to rims there are so many companies and they all have such similar designs and configurations......was Volk the first company on earth to create a 10 spoke wheel? I dont think so...their designs are obviously a variation of something else.

 

^^^agreed!