There's no sugarcoating the fact that the industry has been going through a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs with no definite outlook for its future. Within the past year we've seen many of our favorite performance manufacturers-who brought many innovative and quality components to the market-slowly begin to wither away while many closed their doors for good. Less than four years ago SEMA recognized the sport compact market as the fastest growing automotive market. How times have changed.
The market is now soft and the once dominant industry that seemed to show no weaknesses has developed a chink in its armor as many U.S. and Japanese manufacturers are scrambling for new products and ideas. Who is to blame for this recession and industry funk we're currently engulfed in? The unstable economy is a major contributor while another is the lack of performance cars being manufactured. But no one is to blame more than those pesky parasites that unwillingly latch onto the automotive market. Overseas knockoff companies we've come to recognize as nuclear cockroaches have saturated the industry with replica products without any automotive knowledge of how to manufacture or develop quality products. Do you really think they really give a rat's ass about form and function? I think not. Ghetto TIG-welds here, shoddy fitment there, lop off some cost-saving material here-all in the name of profit. But the biggest gripe I have with these rapidly multiplying roaches is that rather than packing up their bags and leaving for good, they quickly liquidate their stocks, only to come back the following year with a completely new replica product. If you don't know what I'm talking about I highly recommend you sashay toward the back rows near the walls at SEMA and see what I'm talking about. Burn 'em all, I say. And burn those who use the same janky ass products on their cars. Take pride in your ride cause in the end it doesn't come down to how much cash you saved but rather at how well that product works and how well it was crafted. Develop your own products and build your own identity because in the end who's going to remember a company that's built a reputation of knocking off products? I won't hate on every company cause in all truth, there are many who sell and develop decent products. But it's the ghetto ones who piss me off.
I might come off as an angry individual and you know your 100 percent correct, but that's just my nature. I call it as I see it. With all the negative anger and occasional wall punching, I do see a brighter side to the industry as the newly released Lancer Evo, Nissan GT-R and Subaru STI look to bring some gusto back to the market. This year's Tokyo Auto Salon showed a glimmer of what's to come as performance manufacturers, both small and large, will help stimulate the automotive world. Until then, enjoy the fruits of our labor as we continue to bust our asses in bringing to you, the readers, exclusive feature cars, informative technical content and worldwide event coverage you've come to expect from Turbo & High-Tech Performance magazine.