Date:         Tue, 19 Oct 2004 10:45:15 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: AMC / German Cylinder Heads (LVC)
In-Reply-To:  <101920041236.19639.41750A5F00029AA800004CB722007348409700040799020A05@comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> Even if you rely on the VW logo it doesn't neccesarily mean 
> "made in Germany".  I just sent a customer a set of coolant 
> hoses for her 85 Vanagon.  Most of the hoses were VW and the 
> few aftermarket hoses were German.  However she started to 
> get upset that some of the hoses (the VW ones) were made in 
> Turkey!  Another one is made in England (didn't seem too 
> upset about that one).  She should be happy that she can get 
> these hoses at all.  There is no aftermarket for the ones 
> that she got upset about. 

> Kolbenschmidt has plants in more countries than I could count,
>  and didnąt find a one in germany that I could trace castings to. 
> Their manufacturing in vehicle stuff seems to be everywhere 
>except  germany. They themselves are just a division of rheinmetals. 
> Very interesting company with divisions in the US.  I find the 
> massive webs of these multinationals to very interesting. Especially
> with the different rules around the world about product marking.



This is more prevelant every day. With the increased globalization of
industry comes a lot of ambiguity when it comes to parts origin, in terms of
both where and by whom they are made. As I've noted before, it is quite
common these days to see parts from "German" companies made pretty much
anywhere. This includes everyone from Kolbenschmidt to Febi to Bosch to
Volkswagen.  Keeping up with the companies themselves is next to impossible,
as they are constantly bought and sold. Some venerable German names have
changed hands dozens of times. Just this month, Sachs/Boge, Lemforder, and
ZF merged. The new company now gets to mix-and-match if they want to, for
example putting the Boge name on products built by Lemforder. Likely they
will decide what brand name label will best sell each product, maybe even on
a country-by-country basis, regardless of which factory supplies the part.
They are already consolidating some of their manufacturing as I write this.
Similarly, Pagid, Textar, and Mintex brake pads are now all made by the same
parent company. Brand names are routinely sold from one conglomerate to
another, either as an ongoing concern or merely the rights to the use the
brand name. It’s not uncommon for the same brand name to be licensed by one
company in Europe and a totally different company in the U.S., meaning that
the identically branded product on two continents is actually from two
completely unrelated companies. 

What's more, as these companies globalize they are not always careful to
keep the country of origin labeling accurate on their products. Yes, this is
supposed to be illegal, but I'm telling you it happens all the time. The
"German" Kolbenschmidt heads that were actually Spanish are just one
example. I have also seen "German" motor mounts that were actually made in
India, and genuine Volkswagen bus rear hatch seals mislabeled as German by
VW themselves when I know for a fact they were Brazilian. 

This doesn't always mean that product quality suffers. I have found that as
a rule, the better or more established brands are pretty picky about what
they put their names on, no matter where they make the part. They have spent
decades building their brand image and loyalty among both their wholesale
and end-user customers, and are too smart to throw that all away and dilute
the brand by putting their name on junk. Of course some "no name" brands
don't have the same incentive. Some are just in it for a quick buck and
don't care much about who they source from. Today they may be selling VW
parts in America, tomorrow industrial machinery in Zimbabwe. It never ceases
to amaze me how many companies display at the big annual AAPEX automotive
trade show one year and are gone the next (or are a VW parts manufacturer
one year and a diesel truck parts manufacturer the next).  I'm sure that
when I go to the show next month half of the booths will be new. A lot of
them are hardly more than one guy with a dozen parts lined up on a card
table. The price may be right but God only knows where the parts are coming
from. The scary thing is, after the show some of these parts start turning
up in the catalogs of the big import parts wholesalers, and having seen the
parts "in person" I would never in a million years put one on my van. Some
of these distributors will sell anything if the price is right. :-(

Once again it comes down to dealing with a trustworthy parts retailer who
bothers, and cares, to keep up with these sorts of changes, and make sure
that what you get is the best quality possible within the realm of currently
available alternatives. Fortunately there are several vendors on this list
alone who fall into that category. 

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

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