Here's something we can relate to, and we believe the automotive industry as a whole is struck by this problem: copy cats. We for example, get copied every single day by thousands of scrap sites, as they are called, which do nothing else but a simple Ctrl+C Ctrl+V (copy paste) of our articles into their websites. But this is nothing in comparison to how bad the situation is for car manufacturers, and in this case, tuners.
AC Schnitzer, a renowned tuner, managed however, to win a small battle against this disease. Various pirate companies are copying the AC Schnitzer wheel designs and they do nothing else but poor quality rims, that brake eventually. Imagine going 100 mph when you loose on of the wheels. Nasty consequences, uhh? If this will
happen to you, you have to know your insurance policy does not cover it, as if this should be your biggest concern when doing 100 mph...
Apart from the obvious problems caused to you, the driver, the manufacturing company, in this case AC Schnitzer, looses millions of worldwide.
We said earlier AC Schnitzer managed to win some battles. They managed to stop some of the copy
cats and had all their products destroyed. Unfortunately for the big car companies, things are not so easy. Top of the line manufacturers like BMW and Mercedes are having serious problems with Chinese manufacturers which have taken the copy business to outrageous levels. We have reports that they even copied one of the Ferrari Formula 1 race car. I mean really, do you think they'd let you in?
So, AC Schnitzer is starting the Stop The Copy campaign, which we are very happy to help with, and hope others will join in.
AC Schnitzer Press Release:
AC Schnitzer fights product piracy for your safety under the motto: "Stop the Copy"
AC Schnitzer products, in particular wheels, undergo numerous tests to guarantee their strength in every situation.
Recently impounded wheel copies which AC Schnitzer has passed to the TÜV for testing were found to be dangerous:
The copy wheels broke!
Because of poor quality, counterfeit copies can suffer sudden catastrophic damage not only in vehicles moving in the limit range but also on vehicles in "normal" use. No insurance will cover the consequences and resulting compensation claims.
The impounded wheel copies were a safety risk to road traffic and have been destroyed.
In addition, economic losses amounting to
AC Schnitzer copied rims getting destroyed video:
millions for the worldwide AC Schnitzer trading organisation are another important reason for AC Schnitzer to take rigorous action against product piracy.
AC Schnitzer will continue to take action against all counterfeiters, and thus make an active contribution to customer safety. Because buyers of AC Schnitzer products have a right to high quality special developments which have undergone extensive testing, and this can only be guaranteed by AC Schnitzer Original Parts.
