Auto component firms’ face-off with fake parts

November 30, 2009 10:34 am

The auto parts market, first confronted with global economic slowdown and demand slump, is now facing other odds. Domestic auto component companies are battling against fake auto part companies. The serious development has left mid-size as well as leading players in the auto component industry fretting. 
Companies that make dubious auto parts are not a new threat to the registered and reputed auto component manufacturers. But at a time when demand for their products is gradually rising from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), the auto component makers are worried that their business would be seriously hit. 
Fake companies have gone so far that Bosch India, one of the leading auto component makers, recently discovered that spurious parts in the brand name of Bosch are available aplenty. To protect its brand image, Bosch has created a secret investigation team, which is jointly working with police to track down notorious fake companies.
Anant Dayal, Managing Director, M & M Machine Craft Private Limited, a mid-sized auto parts manufacturing unit in Gurgaon, Haryana, says, “This is not only affecting the business of the auto component manufacturing companies, it is also prompting the OEMs to take a cautious step while sourcing auto parts in the open market.”
While reacting to the repeated complains of auto component manufactures as well as OEMs, the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association, the principal body representing auto parts makers, has set up a separate cell called the ‘Consumer Affairs Committee.’