Toyota In Hot Water In China Over Illegal Parts
Usually, it’s the car manufacturers who complain about fake parts coming from China. In the man-bites-dog equivalent of the parts industry, a Chinese government agency accuses Toyota of trafficking in highly illegal auto parts. Toyota is in deep doo-doo.
In a raid on two Toyota dealerships in Yiwu City in east China’s Zhejiang Province, local authorities found more than 1,700 types of uncertified auto parts, says China Daily. The parts were found in the warehouses of two dealerships belonging to FAW Toyota Motor Sales Co Ltd, a joint venture of state-owned FAW and Toyota.
Under Chinese law, many auto parts, as well as the whole car, must be CCC (China Compulsory Certification) certified. CCC is China’s answer to the Euro-centric ECE certification. Parts without the certification may not be sold, said Pan Wei, an official with the Zhejiang Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce. The parts have been traced back to Toyota Motor Warehousing & Trading Co, a Shanghai-based Toyota subsidiary in charge of distributing auto parts to Toyota stores in China.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Pero por dios Toyota, ¿hasta cuando?!?!?!?!?!?
i wonder how good the knock off pedal boxes are...
OK, but isn't the CCC a bit of a con game? I seem to recall reading that the Chinese regs are basically word-for-word verbatim copies of the EU/ECE regs, and that in order to get the CCC you have to give Chinese authorities full blueprints and specs for your part, allow them to come in and inspect/photograph your production process, etc...all for a part that is already type approved as meeting the EU/ECE (and therefore the Chinese) technical regs...and then, after you've paid the fees and given all that proprietary information (no such thing in China) to the authorities, you get your CCC, but surprise surprise, your parts (or parts that look just like yours) are being manufactured all over China by everyone and their brother-in-law. Am I wrong about this?
Just as you thought it was hard enough to create global products that simultaneously conform to MVSS, UNECE and JASIC requirements, in come the Chinese and say "evly supa powa has specification. So we make oul own." You bang your head against your desk and get down to studying the new GB spec. Barely one paragraph into it you realise that it sounds familiar. Very familiar. In fact it is so familiar you can continue reading it with your eyes closed. This is because when China "wrote" their specs, they did what they do best: They copied it word for word from the UNECE regulations. However being a communist country, they decided that the ECE system was to unbeurocratic for their likings. So they complicated it. Here's how it's done for ECE: Call up a type approval house and set up an appointment for them to witness the testing. 2 weeks later get certificate and invoice. Here's how it's done for CCC: Wake up at 4am to call up the CCC Authorized Certification Body (ACB). Find they only speak Chinese Hire a Chinese translator Find the ACB is not authorised by CCC to assess your product Call up another ACB Fill in the CCC application Discover that there are many unwritten rules Resubmit CCC application Get certification. No, no it ain't over... Send parts to CCC approved lab. All the approved ones are in mainland China. Re-hire translator to tell lab how your stuff works Get certificate No, no it ain't over... Now your factory must be approved Buy plane ticket for Chinese inspector (The only official inspectors all live in mainland China) Book and pay for their hotel Welcome inspector and tour them around factory (beware: they might steal all your ideas) Pay the fees and yippee you've got your CCC! Ohh and renew application every f*cking year. Or give the CCC official a free car and all will be OK until the the other oiffical who remained without, raids your dealership.