Visitors and trade being educated on the importance of genuine automotive aftermarket parts at the Automechanika Gulf exhibition

The Automotive Brand Protection Coalition Middle East (ACME) stand at the show has been attracting a great deal of interest for both the 'right and wrong,' reasons according to the members of this group.

'Autotec Automechanika is an exhibition devoid of any counterfeit parts. At the ACME stand, we have displayed both original and fake parts to educate the trade and the customers. But, for some reason there are visitors who feel this the place to buy fakes at a cheaper price. This indicates the levels of ignorance in some sections of the populace with regards to the dangers of counterfeit,' said Pia Pacovsky, Brand Protection Daimler Chrysler and member of ACME.

The automotive industry, which forms the core of ACME, is very well represented at Automechanika Gulf. Rashid Mehdi Khan, Parts Manager, Aftersales Department, Nissan; Fahad Mohammed Al Gurg, Brand Protection Manager, Middle East for General Motors; Beate Lak-Menzel, Senior Counsel from the Office of the General Counsel, DaimlerChrysler and Edward Hardcastle, Rouse & Co. International which represents the interests major Japanese car manufacturers such as Mitsubishi, Honda, Nissan and Toyota are all present at the show to combine their efforts to bring about greater awareness on the danger of counterfeits in the automotive aftermarket sector.

'We have had a positive response from exhibitors at the show and great interest from government departments both from the UAE and the region with regards to brand protection and counterfeits,' said Pacovsky.

Most of the manufacturers agreed that counterfeits score with their price difference and the high quality packaging, which in many cases is very similar to that of the original manufacturer. But according to Rashid Khan of Nissan, there could be cases where the counterfeit part itself is priced slightly higher than the original as the trader is trying to make the maximum profit from a one-time sale. 'It is very difficult to differentiate between a fake and an original spare part as the ACME stand amply demonstrates. Our advice to customers is to only purchase spare parts from the dealers, that way there is nothing left to chance,' he said.

The more popular the automotive brand, the greater the number of counterfeits, says Beate Lalk-Menzel of DaimlerChrysler. 'We have found Mercedes Benz trucks in the UAE, with a mileage of two million kms. When the brand image and reliability is so strong the number of counterfeits are proportionately larger. Sophisticated packaging methods allow for even create fake copies of the DaimlerChrysler hologram, but we have an entire team which is constantly monitoring the counterfeits and is ready to provide guidance to our customers.'

'The counterfeit market in the Middle East region is estimated to be $200 million. These traders misuse the brand equity of the automotive manufacturers who spend millions of dollars in research and development to ensure that every spare part bought by the customer matches the highest levels of safety and performance,' said Fahad Mohammed Al Gurg of General Motors.

'The Middle East automotive aftermarket business operates on two fronts - the genuine spare parts manufactured by the automotive brands themselves and the counterfeits. In many markets the automotive aftermarket sector includes manufacturers who produce genuine spare parts under their own brand name, which offer quality equivalent to the original spare parts. This region and the local economies could greatly benefit from such enterprises which could be locally based, but the counterfeit producers are depriving the customers of a viable and safe option for spare parts,' said Edward Hardcastle of Rouse & Co.

Since a large number of automotive manufacturers have regional offices in the UAE, ACME has been working very closely with the authorities in Dubai and Sharjah to create greater awareness on this problem that endangers lives and affects the economy. 'There are stringent laws in place to curb the counterfeit menace and we have received utmost cooperation from the Economic Departments, Police and the Ports and Customs authorities in both the Emirates. Though ACME does not act as a monitoring body, they coordinate with individual manufacturers to report cases of counterfeit trade, ' Hardcastle added.

Visitors to the ACME stand at Automechanika Gulf can see the difference between fake and genuine parts and also pick up a pamphlet, which provides all the necessary information on this issue. 'ACME's message at Automechanika is clear 'Fake automotive parts can extract the heaviest price from you - your life or that of your loved ones,' said Al Gurg.

Autotec Automechanika Gulf is being organised by Epoc Messe Frankfurt, a subsidiary of Messe Frankfurt, the world's third largest fair organizer that conducts the Automechanika exhibitions in 10 countries across four continents.