Quote:
Originally Posted by KamiSpeed
The reason companies like Zele and Amuse refuse to meet American customers half way is because they're doing perfectly fine in Japanese markets at their current price and have no major interests to sell stateside aside from the few guys who buy (and they figure it'll likely be less replicated since its more expensive to buy). Even so the US standard is based off price, while the Japanese one is based off quality, meaning that a cheaper product usually beats out a quality one here. I understand fitment could be improved in replicas, but have they been tested? idk so I can't say. All I do know is that Japanese companies usually test their products with race teams... as feedback comes in they tweek and add on to their design.
So what am I saying? Well I don't hate on ppl who buy replica or companies that make replica, to each their own. I just don't understand ppl who complain about not having enough options stateside when Japanese companies are basically afraid to sell here. It'd be great if American companies started making their own parts... but once again why go into business making original when its much easier and cheaper to make replica? Haha unfortunately its a cycle that will probably never end... not because of replica companies but because of the market itself. I obviously support the Japanese side of things, but after all these years of the same issue I've learned to not fight it haha.
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This is pretty accurate! However, with regard to Zele and Amuse, it's a bit more than this actually. Zele in particular has no interest in making any new aero anytime soon. This is what they told me directly earlier this year when I was hanging out with them at Tokyo Auto Salon. Their reasoning is that while their sales are slow to fair domestically, they're afraid of the amount of replica parts companies out there. Even though Zele is cautious of export markets due to knock-offs, they still have to export because they need the revenues. As one of the biggest Zele dealers outside of Japan, we bring in quite a lot of it, but for every customer, we try to do our due-diligence to make sure parts don't end up in the hands of somebody that's going knock them off.
The same goes for Amuse. Matsui (the new president of Amuse) earlier this year told me directly that he very much wants to make new aero. However, it's a double-edged sword... Since the export markets are becoming much more important to Amuse's survival than even the domestic Japanese market, they need to sell here. However, they're afraid to make new body parts because they don't want their pieces to end up being copied abroad (the US is actually the biggest source of replica automotive aero companies, even more-so than China or Taiwan). This is especially true because of the high sunk costs in producing aero parts in Japan. It's virtually impossible to copy an Amuse exhaust exactly versus copying a fiberglass body panel, so that's where their main revenue stream is going towards.
As for the companies that produces replicas of high quality; why don't they start designing their own, completely original parts? Not "inspired by," not a modification to a kit that already exists from another manufacturer, but something totally original. It's most definitely cheaper to make aero in the US than in Japan, so if these companies produce their own designs that look good, they'll capitalize on the market because the parts will be affordable and good looking. However, this is not the case; these companies knock-off other designs because it's just "easier" than doing their own work.
-Kris