Counterfeit Car Parts Are Costly and Dangerous

Continental Successful in Fighting Product Piracy

Hanover, January 23, 2008 – Cheap imitations from Asia are booming. The value of fake products confiscated on entry into Germany this year is five times higher than in the previous year, establishing, at €1.2 billion, a new record.

With a rising flood of automotive replacements parts on the market, even the international automotive supplier Continental is affected by the increase in product piracy. Drive belts, truck tires and brake discs and lining can be had in Germany for a pittance. But caution is advised! Counterfeiters are at work. Installing forged replacement parts in your car can pose a risk. That is why Continental is waging such a merciless war on these imitations.

“We are making every attempt to continue to prevent the manufacturing and sale of counterfeit Continental products,” says Manfred Wennemer, Executive Board chairman of Continental AG in Hanover. Already in November 2007, 19,500 drive belts and packaging with ContiTech labeling were seized by customs and destroyed in a shredder machine. A tire with Conti tread pattern, made in China, is now prohibited from being sold in Germany. In August 2007, a Taiwanese dealer and a general importer were ordered to pay damages in the case of 4,500 fake V-belts and because of the manufacture of 13,000 copied boxes in ContiTech design. “This victory is an important signal to the market and to counterfeiters,” says Jürgen Grefe, sales manager for the Asian area for the ContiTech Power Transmission Group’s Automotive Aftermarket segment.

These automotive replacement imitators are engaging in a cut-throat business. Fake products suggest quality and safety to the customers, although they are not capable of holding to what they promise. “The workmanship and material quality of these illicit reproductions is not up to that of the genuine products and so they can quickly become a safety hazard,” warns Manfred Wennemer.

Bert Korporal, motor vehicle expert at the technical inspection agency, TÜV-NORD Mobilität, reports: “By saving on replacement parts, you are also cutting corners in terms of safety. This is because cheap products wear much faster than genuine quality as a rule. A fake brake lining, for example, can have a longer braking distance and thus contribute to a serious accident.”

Experts put consumers on guard: “Service life is not predictable in the case of illegally manufactured products or parts of dubious origin. The likelihood of engine damage thus cannot be excluded. And that would cost you a whole lot more than you can ever save by buying cheap parts.”

Source: Continental AG

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