Dubai: As people look to cut corners on expenditure, the counterfeit car parts industry seems to be thriving, according to industry experts.
"The counterfeit industry is increasing because the market is down. While the economy is down, customers are more likely to opt for cheaper products," Carl Roy, business development manager at Al Dahiya Auto Spare parts, said at the automechanika exhibition which kicked off at the Dubai World Trade Centre yesterday.
According to Roy, the most common counterfeit parts are usually the more expensive ones such as filters, spark plugs and brake pads.
The parts which are mostly manufactured in China are brought here to make a quick profit, and during times when people are more willing to cut costs, customers are happy to buy, said Ashish Varsani, general manager of Aksbran Corporation, a small company that specialises in car brakes.
Industry specialists also detect a trend in which people buy fake products so they can sell their cars at a marked-up price.
"We are a small brand that sells good quality products, but we have a lot of customers who want us to print European brands on our products and supply it to them.
Sell it for more
"As soon as they take our company's name off and put a European brand on, they'll sell it for a lot more," Varsani said.
Roy says that a lot of products are re-packaged these days. A stroll down the Chinese section of automechanika revealed a large number of unbranded products.
"At the Frankfurt automechanika exhibition four years ago there was such a big Chinese quarter there.
"This year's exhibition sees a large presence as well," Roy said.
Feituo Auto Parts Trading has been based in Dubai for three years and sells lights and bumpers along with car parts manufactured in China.
The bumpers come with Mercedes, Jeep and Chevrolet logos.
Sam Wu, a sales executive at Feituo Auto Parts, says even though people know it's not an original and doesn't have the same quality, they prefer to buy them because they can be up to 70 per cent cheaper.
"The bumpers with the logos are not the same as the originals... but people know that they aren't original but are happy to buy because it's much cheaper," he said.
Fewer quality tests
According to Roy, low quality materials branded with famous names are not subject to the extensive quality tests that are performed by the original brands.
"For example, normally the brake boxes have a regulator R90 stamp which means the break lining has been tested.
"They have a tolerance that each break pad has to meet or exceed.
"The imitation products have no stickers so you have no idea how good the break pads are or who made them," Roy said.
However sometimes it's not as easy. Some spare parts boxes come with the same hologram as the authentic products, Roy said.
Although the customers may think they have a good bargain, industry specialists say they will end up spending more in the long term through replacements. There is also the very important safety element.
