i dont like it.:D:

actually, the title and first post of this tread ASK if people are interested, therefore anyone has the right to say that they are not. :spank:

NO REPLICA!!!

I paid sooo much for my real one :(

List:

1. J-Zilla
2. new2me
3. ca18detsilvia
4. jzrx8
5. Marvin_Rock (front/sides)
6. BRGREEN8
7. mountain
8. llzjayarzll (front only)

make this one fast!! or ill buy a real rmagic and wait 7 months! lol

Don't hate on the replica. Then when people start getting it you can boast about how you have the original.

i think 8 is a good number. might as well get started on it!

Haha good point, plus I'm the ONLY one in scotland with the feed kit (maybe UK, but maybe not)

I can get you guys the real one or the replica. What do you guys want ? :) If people wanted the real one, they would've gotten it already. I hope this is a logical assumption because you CAN buy a real one through various vendors.

quite frankly, i want the replica. i dont see myself paying over 1000 dollars and have to wait 3 months for a front bumper. when i pay, i want it right away!

replica

If ShineAuto can build a replica with hybrid FRP for less money, excellent fitment, and no waves, then I don't see why people should fork out $1000 for the original front bumper.

IMO, ShineAuto only needs to fabricate a replica of the front bumper.

We can use your Burnout side skirts and rear diffuser that you already have in stock.

We need to support local talent like Shine's, and keep the money here in the U.S. instead of sending it overseas.

what about supporting the companies that actually design and r&d it? replicas hinder the industry. less companies are willing to design and r&d products because they assume someone sooner or later will just rip their product and take their profits. but then again most consumers don't care about that.

What R&D are you talking about?

There is hardly any. We are talking about just bumpers, not the whole car mechanicals.

Take for example your Autobahn bumper. Where you do think the Japanese got the idea for that design? Hmmm, I wonder where?

The reality is, people are copying designs or slightly altering them to look like originals, but originals they generally ain't.

r&d includes producing the first version of the front and so forth. much cost goes into it before even making a mold of it. the thing is the companies don't go off molds, they make their own. replicas simply come off the mold of the authentic. im not saying there is anything wrong w/ altering the originals and producing something based off of the original. just don't take an exact copy of it. heck it could even look better if altered.

You've got some good points.

I guess the cost to them are the original molds, and NOT so much on design and R&D.

The Miata, and perhaps some of the body design for our car were done in the Mazda design center in Irvine, CA. The Japanese are just copying and perhaps improving upon body designs from Italy and some auto design houses in the US.

In effect, everybody in this small niche body kit industry are just leeching off of everybody else.

The Japanese body kit makers cannot stop the US guys from copying their so-called "original" kits. In the same vein, the US guys cannot stop the Japanese from copying a LOT of our original designs either.

On top of all that, if I can get practically the exact same product @ half cost, I'm sorry, that's just consumer sense. If companies see that their product is being outsold by a competitor for half price, they need to do something about it. Nothing about the front bumper (materials or R&D) should make it cost that much. Add to that shipping and the long wait. I'd rather buy things I have to get shipped from the states anyway, just takes to long to freight overseas.

actually some companies do a lot of R&D in the form of testing and optimizing the aerodynamics of their parts.

Your are probably correct, but there are inexpensive computer CAD programs that do designs, and separate computer programs that do simulations. Furthermore, these companies probably outsourced the computer-simulations to third parties.

There are also third parties that fabricate the dies and molds based on the designs churned out by these computer programs.

It is highly unlikely that these companies do actual wind-tunnel testing of the bumpers because these are just niche products with limited market potential, and therefore do not warrant expensive testing.

Moreover, these Japanese bumpers cost at average of 70,000 yen, equivalent to about $500 to $600. US wholesalers will have to pay shipping, custom duties and taxes, plus tuck on their profits. That's the reason why an imported front bumper cost an average of $1000 to the US consumers.

From the US consumer's point of view, the buying decision more often than not, is influenced by price.

If I can get a replica bumper with similar quality to the original but at half the price, then why should I buy the expensive original???

It's just plain economics.

Well shine, what do you think?

i saw in an option video a while back that C-West actually does physical testing on their kits. im not saying all companies go through this, i merely stated that some do.

what you say is true, i never said otherwise. thats the reason i myself purchased an au-to bahn replica from them. but you're missing the other side of the spectrum. it also may lead to an increase in price for their current products. surely you know about supply and demand. now people want FEED and Vertex too. one day perhaps everything will be a replica and no one will buy originals, and companies will stop designing new products as well.

:)

I guess originals would be the best, but you can't beat the price of a nice replica. provides extra $$$ for more parts

i am going to take myself off the list because i just ran over a possom and i cant wait for shineauto to make the FEED replica :sad:

Well, here's my take on it. I don't care that much if we replicate or not. Japan makes parts for the Japanese market. How many people have bought an original FEED aero kit for the RX8 in the U.S?? Like I've said before, those that want the original, wouldve bought one already. So if a replica wasn't on the market, they still wouldnt buy the original aero kit because its beyond their budget and takes too long. So is FEED really losing customers that they never really had? Do they care? Their market is Japan.

For Example, If we designed a body kit for the U.S market, would we care if someone replicated it and sold it in Somalia? The answer is no because our target market is the U.S. We are designing parts for the U.S market and will continue to do so regardless of what other countries do. If someone from Australia bought our parts....great!. But if not, we wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Amuse Japan doesn't even care if they sell parts in the U.S. Even if you offered them a chunk of money, they wouldn't care less.

Now what we do is all about what people want. I wouldn't say it is ethical, but we're not in business for our competitors. We benefit from giving you benefits.

so that means you are starting production on the replica, yes? (waves hand in jedi motion)