I hope this is an isolated incident...

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/10/japanese-tuning-firm-trust-greddy-declares-bankruptcy/

I hope HKS, Endless, Volk etc aren't next. :wtc:

 

Wow that sucks

 

wow that is horrible....ah I don't even know what to say...hope this doesn't happen to other well known brands in the car tuning industry..

 

This will probably continue to happen since the vast majority of American consumers want it to happen.Most people have the Walmart mentality.If I can by it cheaper who cares about the quality. I will just throw it away and buy another when it breaks.
For those of us who are willing to pay for quality -maybe there will be a few good companies left to buy from.

 

cobb is still in business...woo! and yes "walmart mentality" I like that and I agree....but with everything..you get what you pay for. I remember I paid like $700 for a jl w7 10...people thought I was crazy....that was about 6 years ago...still got it.....while most have probably spent well over $700 in replacing subs over the years...guess this is a good example...

 

Walmart is the enemy.

 

Is Walmart really the enemy, or is it the stupid sheople that refuse to think for themselves and demand instant gratification?

This really is horrible news they made some quality products. I have a turbo kit from them that I used on my 98 civic and their evo cat back exhaust. No complaints. I always have liked their exhaust note.

 

People will always be silly. At least a great majority. Walmart makes stupid in vogue.

 

My cat-back is greddy, i love it! I'm pretty sad to see this news.

 

Thank you uncle Sam for the high azz fuel costs!

FAIL

 

Wait a second, all of you blaming the American consumer are reallly missing the issue. Greddy has refused to keep up with market trends. Their products were always extremely expensive, even when compared to their direct competition. When a company goes under, it is rarely the consumer that is to blame. A company as small as Greddy should have had the flexibility to adapt (read: scale, react quickly to the obvious issues they were having, etc.) to the current economy, maybe offer a budget line of products with a little less profit margin, but that would have sold better, and went on with life. The refusal to adapt, on principal or otherwise, is stupid, and we see the results.

 

^^ Agreed.
The import market has been drastically shrinking for the last 5+ years. What have they done to adapt? Plenty of companies that bet the farm on the import craze are loosing their asses now.

 

Amen...they don't offer anything that I feel is competitive any longer. Look at their turbo kits...18g and 25g turbos, I mean really who uses those. There are so many better turbos on the market and when you are a leader in performance technology you are expected to keep up.

 

Yup you have to be flexible in a competitive market. If you are arrogant and take consumer behavior for granted, assume customers wills stay loyal because of your brand, you are toast.

 

In some ways the slow economy is like a sports competition: the weaker (less adaptable, poorly run, whatever) companies are weeded out, hopefully leaving us with companies that are better run, offer better products or service, and at a more reasonable market price.

As much as we might hate the wal-mart mentality, the exact opposite was happening in other market segments (like real-estate) where prices just got higher and higher. Some companies drive up the price so much that they leave a void in the lower end of the market, wal-mart fills that void.

But then there are always people who want quality, instead of just the cheapest thing possible, so when demand for quality comes back, there will be more business for those companies that made it through the current "recession" (or whatever the hell it is oficcially)

 

Good. I never liked greddy anyways. Hopefully Vivid/AP and Crawford are next.

 

Amen

 

I knew AP was awful but is crawford really that bad too?

 

Crawford is MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH worse. They can DIAF.

 

I mean, there doesn't seem to be much tangible difference in build quality from 400 dollar FMIC (read:SSAC autochrome) to a greddy kit ($1200), so the wal-mart mentality actually works here... just bad business practice on their part.

 

I think the walmart analogy is what I an arguing against. There are plenty of companies making, and doing quite well with, premium products, even right now. Apple is probably the most obvious example, but Sony's TV line and VW (though it baffles me as to why) sell higher priced products which are perceived to have quality AND value. In the auto parts industry, there seems to be few examples of this. Hell, even at walmart, the things that get people in the doors are the sales on the quality stuff, you just happen to pick up a ton of sh!t to go with it while your there....

 

Crawford does not cater to Subaru for the sole fact that they have people in the race industry that are more than willing to put their motors into a Ferarri and, similar "supercars". Subaru is chump change to them and more than likely will not be going anywhere soon.
On topic. I had a Greddy Evo 2 on my last car and I liked it (good build quality and excellent welds) but I didn't like it enough to buy it again for what I paid for it. Hell their plastic shift knobs are over $50 then you have to factor shipping in.

 

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/12/update-greddy-in-u-s-still-good-to-go/