Another Japanese tuning company partly collapsed. I could see this one coming.

[Nemesis Guy]

Yet another very well known Japanes bodykit company looks to be on the edge of colapes VeilSide USA Now Closes Business. I suspect Veilside Japan will be history too shortly from the letter below.

We had to stop dealing with them years ago as it was such a messy company and became far too greedy and knew it wouldn't last.

Letter received this morning.


Dear Friends,

We have done business with each other for many years now and have had a lot of fun working with you. Over the years we have built trust for one another and we have always done our best to provide you with the best service that we could offer you and were always honest and up front. It is with heart felt pain that I have to write this letter.

In 1999 I opened the business for VeilSide Japan with great hope for building up a market of quality body kit parts from Japan. For many years we were able to provide great product and unique designs and through our close relationships with shops such as yours we were successful. Unfortunately economic hardships for the industry fell on very difficult times, especially in Japan. The Japan office became heavily in debt and the US office did its best to help keep the Japan office going. The Japan debt however created greater problems for the US office. The factory that holds the molds ceased all production due to the period of almost one year of Japan receiving product without payment to the factory. There were many months that the US staff were not able to receive salary due to the amount of money that the Japan office had taken from the US accounts. On a few accounts the Japan office received payment from orders from the middle east through the US office, but refused to ship the product out. After nearly one year of waiting, the US staff decided to go without pay and used the money to order the product again from the factory direct.

It is reasons like this that the US staff became distanced from the Japan office. After this continued abuse of money, the US staff decided to officially separate from the Japan office. We have been focusing on selling off existing inventory in order to refund customers whom have paid deposits. I have also invested my own money in purchasing inventory directly from the factory to clear up any existing orders and help receive income for owed salary. The Japan office did not like this and have contacted a few shops in the US making slandering claims about my intentions and what I have done. They have also threatened the factory and after a month of holding my money the factory has decided that it will not fulfill the order. We have no choice now but to officially stop doing business and are unable to fulfill your open orders. We are doing what we can with VeilSide USA assets to refund customers that paid deposits and we are acting as ex-employees to make this happen. Please cancel your open orders with your customers and do not do business with Japan unless they have shipped the parts. We are still receiving notices from their customers about paying without receiving product. The company has not developed any new VeilSide part for the last seven years and the market for the parts has dropped significantly because of that. I would highly recommend discontinuing the line all together from your line up.

At this point, we do not know where our journey in life will take us, but we hope that we will not lose any of you as our friends. We will be closing our warehouse. If there are any parts that are currently in stock that you would like to purchase, it will help us repay customers that left deposits. Please email me at: emailray.fong@gmail.com for any inquiries.

With deepest regards,


The ex-staff of VeilSide USA Inc.

 

[pegliobaglio]

Hmmm wonder if they have that rear bumper,
That's crazy,sounds like they were a bit of a shambles though.

 

[LuPix_S15]

Shocking!! And to treat their US operations in that way *shakes head*


Although it would be interesting to see any reports from a neutral POV as you're never 100% sure how biased these 'facts' are :wack:

 

[DeanS15]

veilside had been riding the fast and furious coat tails for years, producing dated and overpriced kits that made a lot of cars look uglier - this is coming from a person that has had a veilside styled car in the past........

when they are throwing out product like this, how long did anyone expect them to last?

jdm parts manufacturers have got to get with it, the market is slowing but the prices just keep going up (obviously exchange rates and shipping dont help but the other foreign markets can still get stuff to uk shelves and sell it for a reasonable price.....)
this is why companies like ep racing are doing so well, they produce products that are cosmetically similar, for a fraction of the cost - from the same material which is the dirt cheap crap that is fibreglass......

everyone is fitting taiwanese brakes, suspension, chinese intercoolers and suspension parts - they may not be of the same extremely high quality as what comes out of the jdm tuning houses but a lot of this stuff is made from the same materials and works just as well.

there are the faithful few still busting thier arse to buy the best (which is very admirable) but money is getting tighter these days and the china and taiwan markets will benefit while the jap firms bear the brunt - this is all my opinion, but i stand by it - it is a shame another tuner has gone under, but i could never afford thier stuff anyway so i'm not too bothered......

 

[Mark_D]

Could have been a lot worse imo. Veilside would have been the absolute last company I would've gone to for a body kit as really the only cars they should have been making them for are saxos / corsas / fiestas !!

There was a rumour HKS were struggling, also somebody mentioned to me Apexi wern't doing too well - either way though, I hope those two don't go!!!

 

[TomK]

You look at that s15 bodykit and, to be honest, its a wonder they survived this long.

Although i didnt think their wideboy rx-7 fd bodykit was that bad. I didnt just say that out loud did I??

 

[craig8585]

jdm parts manufacturers have got to get with it, the market is slowing but the prices just keep going up (obviously exchange rates and shipping dint help but the other foreign markets can still get stuff to uk shelves and sell it for a reasonable price.....)

A lot of the reason why JDM stuff costs so much is the amount time and effort it takes to design and perfect their products in the first place. When a company copies an item it takes hardly any time in comparison to the original, hence the cheap price and part of the reason why Japanese companies struggle. So when we buy copied products we inadvertently contribute towards the original company's demise.

 

[DeanS15]

i get what youre saying craig, i really do.....but i come back to the old bride vs k-sport row which is a fibreglass shell, some padding and fabric. why does it cost 5 times as much for the jap version.....same for suspension arms etc. same materials and manufacturing process.....except its a chinese guy doing the welding, not a japanese guy

anyway how do we even know that some of the jap stuff isnt outsourced like most big companies do and manufactured in china? i'd bet at least some of it is...........i've even heard a whisper that bride seats are made in taiwan or malaysia something along those lines, and thats why the fakes all come out of those places - whos to know the truth, theres so much hearsay

 

[craig8585]

I get what your saying too and agree that some things are clearly way overpriced, but in the case of bodykits and similar items (such as the majority of EP Racing's items) I think this is the main reason why the cost is so much different.

I've not heard about the Bride v K-Sport one, but I guess the basics will be the same as above combined with cheap manufacturing and labour in China. I don't like the K-Sport name at all, but I like how cheap and well some of their parts perform. I've made enough mistakes to know which imitation parts to avoid now. And 9 times out of 10 it is worth saving up and paying extra for quality that doesn't usually come from Chinese products.

 

[DeanS15]

i will say, money will always be the deciding factor in whether to go jdm or not......if i had lots of money going spare, all my stuff would be jdm - but as long as budgets make me have to think a bit more creatively, i look for the best quality alternatives

 

[EMAGDNIM]

It's sad to hear this (especially the way they dealt with customers and wait times) but their kits are dated and I haven't heard much from them since their ex D1 car (and monster R34).

 

[_Wing_]

The question isn't "why does it cost 5 times as much for the jap version" it should be "why does it cost 5 times less for the chiwan version".

Answer: cheap and sh!t labour, zero in design and development and testing, people thinking that because it's the "same" material (it's not) then it's all that matter's, $1 in japan is worth nothing whilst $1 in chiwan is worth a week of food.


Step away from car parts and it's akin to the difference between Nike and Mike, Gucci and Cucci, Sony and Sanyo, T6 6061 and "alloy", Rolex and Rolax... only when it comes to car parts one failure means a dissenter whilst clothing/electrical/everything else you'll just get laughed at. Actually....




Anyways it's really sad to see Veilside go even though their designs weren't to our tastes but it's not all bad:

 

[DeanS15]

it shouldnt wing, sorry but the stuff were talking about is fibreglass and metal - very cheap stuff when bought in bulk so the japs are taking the mickey out of us. end of.

 

[LuPix_S15]

Wing - I gotta disagree on one point... understand like what Craig says there are R&D development costs incurred especially for certain parts that are more engine/braking/suspension performance related etc but...


...from a good friend who is in the industry, on a visit to their factory that they use in China, they spotted lots of parts in same factory being made for well known JDM company. So it's pretty obvious from what every other company around the world (not necessarily car related) is doing, they no longer produce goods domestically - too expensive. China and other Asian/African countries have got the business as you say cos they can pay peanuts.

There's also no way Nike uses developed nations to make their millions of shoes... it's all made in Africa and alike. I think BMW went to South Africa (which is when people argue the build quality dropped).



My argument is that there's a lot of JDM products now that get made in THE SAME Chinese/Taiwanese factories so although the quality of finish and materials may differ from a 'copy brand', I'm not convinced JDM tuners/retailers are always justified in charging such excessive amounts. I love my recently purchased SSR Profs but could only afford them as used item

 

[RyanH]

I never knew that red one was a veilside kit

 

[meddler]

There are a lot of factories in China making brand name products these days. A classic example (not car related) if Calloway golf clubs. If you go to the factory where they are made in china, you can but a set of clubs that are the same as the real thing (they are made in the same factory) but all the copies have the same serial number instead of the individual serial number for each set. I am sure that car / parts manufacturers are doing the same thing, hence the cheap copies. Most of the time is comes from the same place, it just has a different name on it.

Someone mentioned Apexi, they went bust years ago, but I believe they may be trying to come back from the brink. Apexi USA is still around but I believe they have distanced themselves from the parent company.

 

[AllanOrr]

I work for VW,Audi etc and Toyota...you would be supprised most of the VW, Audi cars are actually built in Brazil and most Toyota's are now built in France end of the day the company's are in this business to make money to stay alive, on your mk5 golf's they are WELL knowen for the ABS unit to fail these cost £705 from your VW dealer cant get them anywhere else in the UK, though I have contacts in China that make these....for £205 cost these units are the EXACT same as the VW one there is no difference in them and they even come with a warranty so depending on the situation I can see what some of yous are saying though I belive if you are serious about tuning a car a company's work ethics and customer feedback is what i go on most this is why I would prefer to buy HKS Bride DMAX that are genuine...the bank doesnt always make that so :wack:
as what was said earlyer dated products wont get you anywhere and after 7 years of nothing new am hardly supprised this didnt happen sooner if I am honest hope HKS etc dont go down the same road :down:

 

[Nicely]

It all sounds like a case of sloping shoulders and sour grapes. It clearly shows an equal degree of mis-management on both sides of the Pacific. Clearly the Japs were in no position to repay the money the Yanks were lending them, and the Yanks look like they had no binding agreement and didn't police the lending.