Zele Performance Revoke UK Dealership Status After Allegations of Copying Zele Products
It’s not all news about performance parts and motor racing here, sometimes there is drama in the GT-R scene. While much of it goes on behind closed doors and in non public forums, this allegation caught my eye.
When Zele International had completed and debuted their world renowned Nissan GT-R aero parts back in January 2008, they had a mission to make the parts available globally. To do so, they signed up with a range of well known, well established businesses in a dealership model. So now, we can enjoy some very well known, local faces, who can get us our favourite Zele Performance parts all backed by Zele’s after sales service. All good so far.
It seems, according to Zele’s most recent website update, that one such dealership in the UK may have abused their dealership status to import Zele Products at a very low cost for “promotional” purposes, have them copied, modified slightly and then sold as their own product. Photos of the “new” parts fitted to one of the dealers own cars were taken at a local event and then published on a local UK forum. From the photographs its easy to see a resemblance.
The sad part about this is the company in question is generally thought to be a well respected business. Most certainly not a fly-by night web site. Copying parts is the cheap option these days and when no R&D is necessary your margins are higher. It’s really up to the buying public to vote with their money and choose to buy genuine items.
You can read the whole announcement by following the link below and the parts in question in the photos attached.
A very sad day indeed.
リンク: Zele Revoke Authorized Dealership ウェブサイト Update
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So Sad….Zele got Seiboned by their own dealer
Karma is a B***h though
They will fail….sooner or later
It’s not like Zele invested big money to engineer or aerodynamically test those parts you know…
So it’s ok to steal them?
doesn’t everyone make replicas though?
oh i see..so if everyone is doing it ..then it must be okay then.. F*@k
how about … “be a good neighbor – do the right thing”
@Kris
It just mean that there is nothing to copy. The original Zele splitter looks like a slightly elongated version of the original one. Does it mean that Zele copied Nissan ?
@gdzilla
from what I have seen for many years is that it has been common practise to replicate insanely expensive body kits to produce cheaper replicas.. don’t recall seeing any bitching about it.
This is what happen’s when a country specializes in car kits. (Mr.Ferrari anyone?) It’s one thing for a private garage to pull it off but just cheap when a dealer does it; especially since it was entrusted as part of a business proposal.
Replicating parts from another company is gradually breaking the aftermarket industry. As people are buying more knock off/fake parts the people who did the initial R&D are suffering as people buy cheap crap made in china etc. Voltex had to sease production on their evo9 hood because seibon stole the design and sold it for less. If you people are happy to buy knock off crap then do it, just pull up to someone who’s doing it properly at the stop lights and feel free to cry. I’ll gladly laugh at you. And for those people who say that rota/seibon parts suit your budget stop lying to yourself. If you can afford a GTR you can afford to modify it properly. Buy JDM and keep this struggling industry alive.
Also a big thumbs down to Middlehurst. I hope no-one buys their copied crap. If they dont have enough imagination to create parts themselves they shouldn’t bother making any at all. Rant over. For now…
never happened on a Porsche, sorry tis true
Never happened on those porsches that don’t go as fast, you mean?
Try a fast car with appeal… though sadly nissan is following down the german route of fast car with no soul.
It sounds sad..