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July 31, 2008

An Inconvenient Truth About JDM, AKA The Death of Innovation

Bulletproof Automotive

Voltex just recently announced on their website that they are stopping all production of their wet carbon CT9A Lancer Evolution 8/9 hoods. Why? Because they learned that Seibon made a knockoff of their hood and that people were actually buying the knockoff. Out of concern that people could accidentally mistake the Seibon quality for Voltex quality if they saw it on a car at a race/street/show, Voltex made a statement on their website that they will no longer make that hood in wet carbon.

Here is a picture of the Voltex hood which they wind tunnel tested and did extensive R&D with the Cyber Evo over the years, at their expense of course, with the hope that they’d be able to sell enough to recoup their expenses so they could continue on making more innovative original parts. Continue reading…

And here’s Seibon’s version, which simply came from buying one authentic Voltex hood and then making a cheaper replica (which of course they can sell cheaper since they saved all of the R&D, molding and tooling costs).

So there you have it. Another product is now dead. Do people care yet? Probably not. Will people care the next time Voltex needs to look at the costs to decide if they want to produce an Aero hood for their next car and conclude that its not worth it? Probably still not. Will people care when there are almost no new products coming out with proper R&D because no company can find a way to make their money back? Yeah, probably then people will care, but it won’t matter because by that point it’ll be too late to say we’re sorry and turn back the clock.

I hope everyone with their Seibon hoods out there are happy. And Seibon isn’t the only company, there are many. I can name hundreds of examples of the same story, just swap Seibon for another brand and swap Voltex for another industry innovator. An interesting point is that if you pick up any US magazine you can find most of the companies that are making the copy parts with full page advertisements, yet you wont find nearly as many of the true innovating companies (the ones getting knocked off) because they can’t afford the advertising rates to publish their own ads. This is because the knockoff brands are making far more profit than the companies who actually design the parts, and as such the innovating companies often cant afford the costs of full page advertisements whereas the knockoff brands are increasingly more rich and can afford the ads. As a result, the knockoff brands have the magazines and major media support despite the lack of ethics in the whole thing. Like they say, money talks.

In a time when the Japanese tuning companies rely on overseas sales more than ever for their survival, they look over here and see cars on the covers of almost all US magazines with knockoffs of their products proudly sporting Seibon stickers and other like minded brands. Maybe you can tell me how to convince these companies in Japan to keep making new parts when their own fans who claim to represent JDM will drive around at the same time with a Seibon hood on their car. I honestly dont know how to convince them anymore. And quite literally I am the guy they often consult with when deciding what new parts to produce.

Sometimes I’m ashamed of elements of this industry that I’ve dedicated my life to. It saddens me that there is such little incentive and motivation for the innovators that are the ones who actually make the parts we love. Unfortunately nobody will care until its too late and the scene is dead. Or thats what it seems at least. I sure hope I’m wrong.

PS: People have often said to me that my no knockoff stance of how I handle my cars, my promotion, who I decide to affiliate myself and my company with, and which cars we sponsor would classify me as a “JDM purist”. I take no offense to the word “purist”, but I am not a purist simply because of my belief that I wont condone knockoffs. Being a purist implies some uncommonly strong belief in something. I would instead prefer to think that my belief of not wanting JDM to die is a fairly logical and common belief amongst anyone who loves this culture and loves the innovative cars coming out worldwide.

You can read this article in its entirety over at The Real JDM.

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Posted at 10:00 am in Bulletproof Automotive, JDM

Comments

Corona RR
Aug 4, 2008 at 7:08 am

Didn’t VeilSide have a similar story back in the day with their body kit’s? I’m talking before “Fast and Furious” days when the import scene wasn’t that popular. Consider that to any car part in general there are always three levels to replacement; Original Equipment, Reproduction and a Custom level.

I have learned through the years and experience that you defiantly get what you pay for fit and finish wise so I don’t mind if the kid up the street is paying for the cheaper knock off, let’s say fiberglass bumpers. I paid twice as much for the brand name urethane. In a few months I’m still sitting pretty because of the quality while the knockoff buyer, and I know you’ve seen this, looks like their cowl is missing some teeth from a fight with a squirrel.

TG Williams
Aug 2, 2008 at 6:09 am

This is ironic to the 10th degree! I’m not talking about the boutique parts, but the Japanese motor industry, which was making knockoff Harleys, Celica/Mustangs, Lexus/Mercedes, Mazda/Porsches, etc.,

It’s only recently that Japanese manufacturers developed their own design language (particularly Mazda which has done some excellent work developing Japanese themes).

I’m sorry for the boutique manufacturers, but I don’t know if I can say that it’s not deserved on the plane of karmic retribution.

GTwildfire
Aug 1, 2008 at 1:36 am

There is ALWAYS a solution. Individually, boutique design companies can’t afford to pursue legal action against copyright infringement, but if they formed an alliance with other companies and shared the cost of protection, they could most likely obtain a robust legal defense against such infringement.
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Throughout history it has been Alliances that have turned the tables again and again. This may be no different.

DriveLine Motoring
Jul 31, 2008 at 5:21 pm

What I have been dealing with on the EvoM side of this post:

Originally Posted by Gabriel J View Post
Knock-off or not both hoods are ugly. If someone wants to pay *just* $600 to ugly-up their car…then let them.

I’m curious as to what noticeable benefit (besides a potential weigh savings) the Voltex hood claims to offer a street car.

If they are a true hardcore performance part..Then it was not designed for your average early 20’s evo owner who only drives the car on the street…

Who do you think are buying the knocks-offs????

My Reply:

Though I dont agree with you, your argument does present a good point. And honestly I have failed to fully document and explain the benefits of each product, and why Voltex had produced that part for the CT9A to begin with. Starting tomorrow I will have them send me their latest test sheets from Mie University (translated of course). This will help me show you guys that the money you are paying for these parts holds a good amount of functional value, and how it far surpasses the overstated answer of “its JDM”.. There are many different products out there that can help improve your car, and we would like to show you why Voltex may be beneficial to you.
_____________

… Honestly, that makes me think. There may be a small factor in all of this which we have not properly explained in the past. Do people know why these items are made, and the price they are set at?

With a wide demographic of people in the industry, its hard to really show the logical side that these products go much further than just having a name of “it’s JDM- hard to find”. Yeah these parts are cool to show at your local meet, and yeah it might impress a crowd of people in a Best Buy parking lot, but in the end, thats not what these products are made for. We (as in all of us who bring these beautiful products into the US for the consumer to buy) need to start reaching the market of which the products were originally intended for. Thankfully this trend of proper product-to-consumer marketing is slowly starting to take place, and more of the american public are getting a better understanding of why we use these parts to begin with. But in the end we have only scratched the surface, and still have a ways to go.

DriveLine Motoring
Jul 31, 2008 at 5:19 pm

I am having way too much fun with this. Ben, I am glad we had this long talk. This is really spreading like wildfire.

Too keep this going, for whomever checks back on the comments section, here is what we have been mentioning on the EvoM forums:

Originally posted by Gabe:
The true hardcore racing enthusiast know the reasons for the cost..But they are the smallest minority in this industry. The purchases they make wouldn’t keep most vendors in business. In a way you need the “All show, no go” guys to keep them going.

Most vendors make thousands importing “JDM” tail lamps and headlights…do they offer any performance gain? No, but they look AWESOME at the best buy parking lot.

-Gabe

Eric:
As of right now, thats about all the market is supporting- “all show, no go”. Before the show scene, all you had were grassroot racers. They do still exist, and in a number larger than what most people think. Leave it to the media to completely dilute the industry in support of the fast and furious generation.

Gabe:
Yep…just take a look at SEMA. 10% go parts…90% show parts.

Eric:
Same thing when you open ANY page of Import Tuner, Modified, or Super Street. Thats why you will never see any of this mentioned outside of the internet. Seibon and all the rest pay way too much money to keep what it is they do in the mainstream.
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Ben, it would be nice if your portion of modified were still published. This would have been a great entry.

Ben
Jul 31, 2008 at 4:07 pm

I wish it were as simple as you all hope with your legal comments. Unfortunately it is not. First of all, companies like this, unlike wheel companies produced unique designs per product, per car. Its not a volume business. Getting a patent that can uphold in US court costs tens of thousands of dollars, last time I checked I was estimated at $30,000. Companies like Voltex when they produce a hood like this are not even expecting to sell 100 of them. There’s no way to justify the patent expense because each and every product would need to hold a separate patent. Patenting wheels for example may be a lot easier…but patenting a bumper, a hood, or something else so unique per application is pointless after seeing the costs.

There are other ways to sue a company in this case, but it is not easy or cheap. Small Japanese boutique tuners like Voltex dont have the legal budget that a larger company would have. More often than not in these cases, its a legal fight that cant be wont without deep pockets.

It boils down to big companies preying on small companies.

There are 48 comments right now on the original blog post. I encourage you all to share your perspective both here and on the original blog post. I dont care if you agree or disagree, but making people think is what its all about.

Ryan
Jul 31, 2008 at 4:01 pm

This was one of the number one complaints when I worked at Honda-tech. Don’t allow the knock-off fakes and the industry would improve.

Highspeedhijinks
Jul 31, 2008 at 3:11 pm

Arent there copycat laws against that. I dont know if that was a smart move to just cease making the hood because somoene made a knock off.

GTwildfire
Jul 31, 2008 at 3:03 pm

Scorched Earth policy isn’t a logical solution, nor is it a sensible business practice in the long run.
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If they make great product then turn tail and run every time they’re copied, as long as their products are desireable – their pond will continue to shrink till they’re flipping around in a mud puddle.
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The answer is to patent and enforce when so much R&D has been invested. If the knock-offs are being sole on Ebay, have Ebay shut them down. They do it with handbags, why not hoods?

i_luv_dusty
Jul 31, 2008 at 1:20 pm

And why didn’t Vortex take Seibon to court?