What is the future of Chinese parts?

[Tom Powell]

If this turns into a political discussion it will get locked!

The new administration has some very definite ideas about what our trade relations with China will be. How is this going to affect the availablity of aftermarket VW parts? Are we going to see a parts source dry up? Poor parts are better than no parts. Will Britain, Germany, and possibly Taiwan or Korea take up the slack? If parts become less available, how will this affect the selling price of vintage VW's?

If this turns into a political discussion it will get locked!


Aloha
tp

[Manfred58sc]

They will cost more depending on tariff levels. Since I don't see the US manufacturing taking interest in aftermarket parts for a limited market , there should be plenty of Chinese parts for sale. I think that is a non-political answer. Of course trade agreements may "swap" out certain types of tariffs, it will be a very complicated arena.
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[aerosurfer]

Interesting discussion indeed. The whole new administration is about bringing jobs back. But what is the status of all the things that have never been made here. Seems like a lot of combing through imports to see if this part vs that part is subject to some sort of tariff or penalty.

It would certainly be way too myopic to think that any consumer goods not made here need to be.

How all this fits into vintage, reproduction, oem and aftermarket parts is yet to been seen. Or I sense a lot of shell companies popping up to import things from countries of less controversy
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[busdaddy]

It's already happening, "made" is a very cloudy word, by applying a sticker and stuffing it into a box the Chinapart is suddenly "made" or "assembled" in Germany, or another country. I've been getting suprises like that for years, perhaps now the only thing that will change is the reboxers will make sure the suppliers don't put any mention of origin directly on the part.
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[babysnakes]

I was having the same thought yesterday. There are a handful of shops making a limited variety of parts here and in the UK and other areas. The quality of these parts is better quality than Chinese. If we lose access to crappy Chinese parts, there may/will be a demand of parts made elsewhere. This may increase the quality and price of our needs. I spoke to Ken at The Busco the other day and used parts are starting to dry up, so the market for new will be increasing. I'll try and be optimistic that more parts may be produced domestically. It may increase the value of our rides and if quality goes up so will reliability. Hopefully.

[airschooled]

Considering a VAST majority of VW owners do not frequent this site and know better, I think the crap parts industry will continue like it always had, with shiny ads in magazines and garbage designed to sell you more garbage. I don't care where the part comes from, shit needs toilet paper and quality gets put on my cars.

Robbie
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[aerosurfer]

And what happens when even quality get caught up in tariffs so bad that it's not worth importing?
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77 Westy 2.0L Rockin and Rolling Resto!

72 Sportsmobile (sold)
79 Tran$porter... Parts car money machine (gone)

[captincanuck]

[Malokin Martin]

if people want a kind of generic rundown on what backing out of the TPP means for industry, there was a great write up on reddit (top comment below)

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/5ppzs5/president_donald_trump_signed_an_executive_order/

American buying power means little to China, as it's really reciprocal trade with other Asian nations that's driving their economy. Now? Open season. In regards to VW parts? At the very least it's business as usual.... likely we're all going to see a price hike on even more crappier parts.

[wcfvw69]

I honestly can't think of anything I've bought that was made in China on my VW's.

I'm a purist and all my VW's are running restored, original VW parts. Carbs, generators, distributors, fuel pumps, etc.. When I rebuilt my last two engines, the pistons and cylinders were made in Brazil. I run NOS German made points and condensors. The spark plug wires were made in S. America from Bosch.

Hum.. I'm honesty racking my brain to think if anything on them were made in China?

Anyway, I don't see it as a problem nor do I think there will suddenly be an issue in getting anything from China. Both our countries are too tied together economically.
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[Abscate]

Not a place where traditional thinking has worked too well recently.

TPP will move forward without us and the players will pass on any tariffs to us, so bank on 30% increase.

Anyone manufacturing outside the tariff zone obviously raises prices to match.
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[chabanais]

Sum Ting Wong Industries will charge even more for crappy parts that break easily.
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[notchboy]

Im glad the motors on all my ACVWs are good to go for the moment.
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[hazetguy]

[airschooled]

[djdh68dlux]

Lots of companies from all over the world outsource their manufacturing in China these days, so it's very possible that we all have Chinese parts on our cars in one form or another. About 6 years ago, in a financial bind and on a tight budget, I needed new clutch in my bus. Went to my local shop, they said they could order me the German Sachs, or they had a Brazilian brand in stock, for around half the price of the Sachs. The guy there told me they sell tons of them, no problems. When I go to install it, I spot the small "MADE IN CHINA" stamps on it. Even though I didn't have a good feeling about it, installed it and 6 years later, same clutch still working fine. They can make stuff of decent quality if the company sourcing the work there demands it. What seems to me to be the bigger problem is that there are companies sending their work there that DON'T demand a high or even OEM quality. Unfortunately, the Vintage VW parts industry is guilty of this. These days, I pretty much do as much research as I can here on thesamba before taking a somewhat educated guess at what parts I'm buying. Too bad all the VW shops all hang that cheap shiny Empi crap all over their shops for the VW newbs to get hypnotized by. That, along with the long running perception that ACVWs are the "affordable" classic car to restore are what keeps this going.
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[jtauxe]

[wcfvw69]

[Zundfolge1432]

Venture over to YouTube and search worlds largest factory. Third one down EUPA documentary. Watch it then try to imagine how to compete with people that work for shit wages while being belittled by management. They are just one or two generations from being peasant class. They will continue to dominate manufacturing despite what corporate news is telling you. Their products are getting better not worse, couple that with people that shop price alone and there's your answer.

[BenJAMin]

Speaking of Chinese parts. I've always had a Mexican Bocar on my Super Beetle but in the last couple of years I needed a new carburetor for my Citroen 2CV which also used a Solex carburetor. I got a newly manufactured copy on ebay directly from China with absolutely no markings of where it came from on it and it works amazing. I often wonder why making a newly made VW carb is supposed to be so impossible.