Porsche parts don’t come cheap and even if you pay through the nose, they might not even be authentic.
As the automaker noted, the “counterfeit market is booming” so they’ve enlisted a team of brand protection officers to hunt down fakes and take them out of circulation. This is a daunting task as the internet makes it easy to sell fake parts and accessories.
However, the team is making an impact as the company says they confiscated more than 200,000 items last year. They had a value of nearly $67.2 (£55.3 / €60) million. That’s a good chunk of change and Porsche noted 33,000 of those items were car parts worth over $2.2 (£1.8 / €2) million.
Unsurprisingly, a number of counterfeit items are sold online and Porsche called out Amazon, Alibaba and eBay as some of the most prolific. Of course, the internet isn’t the only place to buy fake goods as the company noted items such as t-shirts, hats and sunglasses have turned up everywhere from the Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair to the Retro Classics show in Stuttgart, Germany.
Thankfully, spotting fakes isn’t too hard as brand protection officer Michaela Stoiber said many of the products are “far cheaper than normal, or the Porsche emblem has been poorly copied.” Speaking of the latter, she said the Porsche horse could be replaced by another animal such as a “sheep standing on its hind legs.”
While many of the counterfeit items are lifestyle accessories and parts, Stoiber noted a particularly odd case from Turkey. There, she impounded thousands of erectile dysfunction pills shaped like the Porsche emblem.
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Approximately 80 percent of the counterfeit goods come from China and many of them are produced in Shenzhen. As a result, Stoiber travels there several times a year to take part in raids.
Counterfeit goods can be dangerous as Porsche noted counterfeiters produce everything from airbags to brake discs and wheels. This poses a potentially serious safety issue as these components have never been tested or approved. Of course, there’s a huge incentive for counterfeiters as Porsche said parts can often be sold for higher prices if they bear the Porsche emblem on the packaging – even if it’s fake.
